Percy Jackson and the Future Victor
by mj728
Summary: It's a peaceful day at Camp Half-blood, until Chiron gives Percy a new quest! He has to voyage into the future, compete in the Hunger Games, and find the "ultimate demi-god" before he  or she  is killed!
1. Chapter 1

Hey everyone, I've been working on this story for awhile, and I finally decided to post it. Please review and tell me what you think of it!

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_Summary: It's a peaceful day at Camp Half-blood, until Chiron gives Percy a new quest! He has to voyage into the future, compete in the Hunger Games, and find the "ultimate demi-god" before he (or she) is killed! _

Annabeth sliced her sword through the air, nearly missing my hand, and then into her sheath. Holding her hands up and sweat dripping from her head, she said, "Enough, Percy, give me a break." I chuckle and cap Riptide, and then grab her hand. We walk back towards the cabins, and she goes into the Athena one.

"See you at dinner, 'kay?" she says. I nod in response, and then go to the Poseidon cabin. I rinse off in the shower, and then dress in my favorite blue shirt (a gift from Annabeth), jeans, and Converses. Annabeth had practically begged me to help her in sword fighting. I found it funny that she could kill me when we were twelve, and now I'm teaching her how to not get killed. She was already amazing with her sword, but over the years I had gotten much, much better. And when she lost the first time in a fight with Clarisse, she freaked out and made me give her lessons. We practiced every day in the arena, right before dinner, and I was really enjoying it. I was so busy at camp nowadays that I didn't get to spend enough quality time with my girlfriend.

I leave my cabin, and see Annabeth waiting by our statue. We say it's our statue because this is both our favorite, and we always meet up here. There's two, large, marble horses with ruby eyes pulling a chariot with golden accents. In the chariot is a beautiful girl with long hair holding a bow, ready with arrow, and a quiver slung around her shoulder. She has a gem-incrusted, silver tiara on her head, and a fierce look on her face. The inscription on the base of the statue says, "The Victor of a Future Land." We don't know who it's supposed to be, but we liked the fact that there's a chariot, which is one of the only things that our parents had worked together over. Annabeth takes my hand, and we walk together to the dining hall.

I walk over to the Poseidon table and sit down. I really wish Tyson were here; he goes and works in the forges most of the summer. Chiron makes a quick announcement, and then the feast begins. Steak, lobster, buttered bread, mashed potatoes, summer squash, and Diet Coke appear on the table in front of me. I pick up the golden plate, and go to the fire pit. I take most of the summer squash and a piece of lobster, and throw them into the flames. _To Aphrodite. Thanks a lot for the great relationship with Annabeth; we're really in love and I'm grateful for all your help with it. _I think in my head. Ever since Aphrodite said my love life was going to be hard, I've been thanking her a lot for getting me with Annabeth. If I don't she'll probably start making it so much more complicated than it needs to be. I go and sit back down at my table, and start eating my dinner.

"Attention all campers!" Chiron's voice rings out, "There will be a fireworks display over the water tonight, complementary of the Hephaestus cabin and some sons of Athena, and I want to see all campers on the beach. All must attend, since this is a special beginning-of-camp show. It will start in exactly fifteen minutes, so spend your time wisely." With that all the food disappears, and everyone starts to leave the mess hall. Annabeth happily skips up to me, hooks my arm in hers, and we leave together.

We find a good spot on the beach, away from most of the people, and sit down. Its right near the water, and Cory, a son of Hephaestus, promised me that we would be able to see all of the fireworks from here. Annabeth lays out a blue and green beach towel from my cabin and we sit next to each other. She tucks her knees in, and rests her head against my shoulder. "The water looks beautiful tonight." She says. I look out at Long Island sound, where the moon is shining perfectly and reflecting itself, and then say, "Yes, but you're a million times more beautiful." She giggles and lightly elbows me. And then the fireworks start. The first one says WELCOME CAMPERS! Then the words swirl around and form a large, brown centaur. It gallops around the sky, shooting arrows at stars. And then it fades and goes out. Everyone starts clapping, but Chiron's are the loudest. Another firework shoots up into the air, and it forms several green trees. I'm wondering where this will lead when little girls spring up from behind them. The trees fade away, and the nymphs dance around, leaving green sparks behind them. They prance in the sky for a bit more, and then also fade. Next, the Minotaur appears. He makes his hands into fists and growls, and then another firework is shot up into the sky. It forms a young boy, who immediately starts to fight with the monster. In the end, the boy rips off one of the Minotaur's horns and the monster falls to the ground. Annabeth starts screaming and clapping like mad, jumping up and down on the sand yelling "Go Percy!" I laugh and pull her back down next to me, and she hugs me and kisses my cheek.

"Okay, how did you get them to do it?" I ask. She looks back up at the sky and smiles. "Do what?"

"Come on, how did you get them to shoot up a firework of me?"

She starts laughing and then replies, "I didn't _convince_ them of anything. I simply suggested that they make a firework of you and the Minotaur, and they said it sounded cool. But I think that Cory kid may have a soft spot for me, so that could have contributed." I jerk my head up and look over at her. She meets my eyes and goes into another giggling fit. She falls on her back, and then once she's finished she sits back up and says, "You're so gullible Seaweed Brain." I smile and wrap my arm around her shoulders, and pull her to my side. We missed a firework through all our talking and Annabeth's laughing, and now another one is appearing in the sky. It's a beautiful mermaid sitting on a rock, with a shining green tail and long blond hair. She's playing a graceful instrument, plucking strings on a golden surface, and it makes a heavenly noise. I hear several people "oohing" and "ahhing" since the mermaid is very enchanting. She giggles and then springs off the rock and into the bright blue water below, and then dissipates. Everyone starts clapping, and then more fireworks are shot up into the sky.

An hour later, after the last firework faded away, everyone began to leave the beach. I stood up and then took Annabeth's hands and pulled her up. She rolled up my towel, and we walked back to the cabins.

"I had lots of fun watching the fireworks." She says, "I liked the mermaid a lot. Which one was your favorite?" I think back to all the fireworks we saw, and then remember the one that stuck out.

"The white owl, because it reminded me of you." I tell her. Her smile grows wider and then we arrive at the Athena cabin. "I'll see you tomorrow." She says. I kiss her, and then I say, "I can't wait. I love you." Her eyes grow brighter, and she says she loves me too. She goes into the cabin, and I walk back to mine.

Once I'm dressed for bed I lay down on a bottom bunk and try to fall asleep. I don't look forward to night, because I know I'll have those bad dreams. My dreams usually relate to something going on in my life, so usually they're about Annabeth. But these past few nights they changed. I'm always in some sort of arena, with a different terrain. The first time I was in a forest, and another time a desert, and in the most recent dream I was in a jungle. I'm always running away from something, and there's someone running with me, but in front of me. I pretty sure it's a girl, because the person has long blonde hair and a very thin body. We always make it to a certain point when I stumble and fall. Before she realizes I fell I'm attacked by whatever is chasing us, and then she notices. She turns around, and then right before I can see her face, I wake up. I've been trying to stay asleep just long enough so that I can see her face, but I've never been able to do it. I turn onto my side, and close my eyes, and silently pray in my head that I won't have the dream again so I won't have to become even more obsessed with finding out who the girl is. I at first thought it was Annabeth, but the hair isn't the same shade and they move differently, and there's just something telling me it isn't her. I realize my eyes are open again, staring at the far side of my cabin, and I jam them shut. _Sleep, sleep, sleep_, just go to…_sleep_.

I'm running faster than I ever have. Jumping over boulders, dodging long sheets of plants, trying not to get caught in curling vines extending from frightening looking trees, while trying to keep up with Blondie who is, once again, running in front of me.

"Wait!" I yell. Wow, I must really progressing in this dream state, because now I can talk. I hear her heavy panting, and then she says,

"You wanna get killed? Hurry up!" I almost stop dead in my tracks, but I know that I have to keep moving so I don't. But if I wasn't being pursued by something that wanted to deeply kill me, I would have, because she has the most beautiful voice I've ever heard. I don't know how to describe it, but it's simply lovely. When you hear it, you feel happy, like there's nothing bad that can happen to you. I grin and run even faster. I will see her face tonight; this has gotten too important. I move my legs faster, kicking up dirt and leaves. I'm so close, but she suddenly takes a sharp turn to the right. I barely make it between the two trees she just ran through, and then desperately try to follow her. We're in a different type of forest. Tall, winding trees are everywhere, their gnarled, knotted roots covering the forest floor. Plus, wide branches extending from the stocky trunks cover the sky and make it impossible for sunlight to come in. Why did Blondie have to come through here? It's like she's made it her personal mission for me to trip every time. Sure enough, my foot gets caught and I land with a loud _smack!_ The wind is knocked out of me, and if I could get any breath in my lungs, I would gasp loudly. I can feel the pain coursing through my body. This has gotten so weird and surreal. I didn't think it was possible for you to feel anything in a dream. But something's telling me that this is not your average dream. Something is much different. But I don't have any time to think about this, because I'm desperately scrambling to my feet, trying to get up and follow the girl. But as always, I'm knocked over by my pursuers, and I wake up.

Something is definitely wrong. It doesn't feel like my other, normal dreams. Could it be Grover, communicating with me through our empathy link? But that seems unlikely, since the last time he did, he was in my dreams, and I was watching him like a movie. This time, I'm in it and I can feel pain. There's nothing I can really do about it now, but I'll make sure to ask Chiron tomorrow. He'll probably know what's up and be able to help me.

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So what is happening to Percy? All shall be revealed in the next chapter (well, not all...). Please review and tell me what you thought, and what you think is happening to Percy. Thanks!


	2. Chapter 2

Sorry about not updating in awhile, but I promise I will at least once a week from now on. And also, a big thanks to everyone of my reviewers! I love you all so much! Now, onto chapter 2!

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I lazily turn over in my bed, still wishing I was asleep. But I hear a knocking on my door, and groan because I can't ignore whoever is out there. I stand up, pull on a shirt that's lying on the floor and walk to the front of the cabin. Annabeth is outside, holding a cup of coffee in her hand.

"Good morning." I say

"Good morning. Here." she says, handing me the cup.

"Oh, thanks."

"No problem. Come on, Chiron said he wanted to see you."

With that, we leave my cabin hand in hand and make our way to the Big House.

"It's kind of funny how he's asking for me. I was planning on talking to him today." I tell her.

"Really? What about?" she questions. I have a small debate in my head over whether to tell Annabeth about my dreams. It's not like she could be harmed from them, and she'll most likely be there when I tell Chiron about them. But then again, this does seem like a confidential thing. Maybe she shouldn't know until this is all sorted out, because I wouldn't want her to worry or anything. I decide to wait and tell her after me and Chiron talk.

Chiron himself is sitting on patio in front of a pinochle game between him and Grover when Annabeth and I walk up.

"Percy!" my best friend shouts when he sees me, eager to get out of his chair. We climb up the steps and Chiron gets up too.

"Percy, how are you, my boy?" he asks, patting me on the back.

"I'm good, thanks." I reply.

"Good, good. Annabeth, thank you for getting Percy. You can go back to your cabin now and wait until breakfast is called." he says.

"Oh, that's alright. I don't mind staying for a bit." she says, smiling.

"Well, uh, you see, this meeting between me and Percy is…very private. I've gotten orders that this particular matter is confidential." he replies.

"Oh, alright." she says.

"Thank you. And Grover, would you mind…?"

"Not at all, it's alright." he says, and they both leave. I take Grover's seat and Chiron stands next to the pinochle table.

"So…I have a feeling this is about the same thing I wanted to talk to you about. My dreams, right?" I ask.

"Yes, that is correct. But, they don't seem like normal dreams, do they?"

"No, they're completely different."

"Right, that's because they are trance sleep-enhancing future flashes. But we usually call them trance flashes for short. What they do is show you brief flashes of the future during your sleep, real events that will happen. They usually occur when you may need help in knowing what will come, so you can expect things."

"Wait…what's going to happen then? Am I…going on a quest?" I ask, nervous and somewhat excited at the same time. I want to get out of camp, and if I am, then Annabeth and Grover are definitely going to come with.

"Yes, Percy. But this quest is different. You must travel into the future and-"

"Whoa, whoa, what? I'm _time_ traveling? Is that even possible?" I ask incredulously. With a small chuckle, Chiron continues.

"Yes, very possible. Only a few, powerful heroes have succeeded in doing it, though many have tried. It's a complicated process, but if we're careful it will all be alright. Now, where you will head is a country called Panem. There is an annual event that goes on there called the Hunger Games." With a sigh, he begins to explain.

"The Hunger Games…well, you see, there are twelve districts there in Panem, all ruled by a power-hungry community called the Capitol. Each year, the rulers there choose two kids, one boy and one girl, between the ages of twelve and eighteen from each district to compete in these Hunger Games. They're put into an arena and forced to fight to the death. Only one comes out alive, the victor."

"What…but why? Why would they do something like that?" I ask, shaking my head.

"To stay in control. Keep the citizens from causing a rebellion. But that's not what your mission is centered around. In the year that you're traveling to, there is a girl from District Four that will compete in the Games. Her name is Diana, and she will one day have a great-grand-son that will help in the rebellion. You must become alliances with her so you can save her and protect her. She is very important, and it is crucial that you keep her alive. I trust it'll be easier for you, with your powers and your heritage. Now, I want you to think long about everything I've said, and when you are ready, you can tell me whether you accept or not."

"I accept." I immediately say. This quest does sound a bit easier than my past ones, since I'm not battling monsters or gods. And, it kind of sounds a bit fun. The idea of being a bodyguard for someone is interesting, and exciting.

"Percy, you must think about this. You may have to kill humans. And the people who design these arenas, the Gamemakers, they can be as deadly and smart as gods. Even though you are dealing with mortals, this quest can be very dangerous. And, no one here will be able to go with you. It's going to be hard enough making it seem like you died while getting you out of that arena, let alone more people."

"I know, but it's not like any of my past quests have been easy. I'm ready for this, and I can do it." I tell him, hoping my voice sounds confident enough. But I am somewhat nervous about not having Annabeth or Grover accompany me. How could they come with, though? I've fought battles by myself before though, and I know I'll be alright.

"Very well. I'll tell Zeus, and you'll meet up in the sword arena to practice for a bit." he replies.

"Cool. So…can I tell anyone about this?" I ask tentatively. Chiron sighs and thinks for a bit before responding.

"Yes, but only your friends, like Grover and Annabeth. And make sure they don't tell anyone else; I don't want something this big getting out." I nod and we go over a small training schedule with me that I'll follow for a few days until I travel.

Once we go over everything, I leave the Big House and jog to the Athena cabin. Annabeth is sitting on the steps, and once she sees me she stands up.

"Hey, Percy! How'd it go?" she yells. I give a big smile and then run up to her.

"Great, I've got a quest!" I say, exhilarated and bouncing on my feet. Her eyes widen and a huge grin spreads across her face.

"Really? Oh my gods, this is amazing! We can finally leave this place instead of sitting around all summer!" she squeals, attacking me with a huge hug. My stomach sinks and I gently pull away.

"Um…Annabeth." I say, rubbing the back of my head with my hand. Her face becomes worried and her eyes confused.

"I can't bring anyone with me, cause it's a really special quest. I have to travel into the future, and it's going to be hard getting me back here, let alone a few more people." She looks shocked, obviously not expecting this, and steps back.

"The…future? Like, _time travel_, the future?" she asks incredulously. I nod, grinning again, and begin to explain my quest. The whole time Annabeth's expressions change from interested, to confused, to horrified, and then impressed.

"Wow, Percy. Are you sure about this?"

"100 percent. I'm excited about it even, _really_ excited."

"I'd be too. See, this is exactly why I need you to help me in sword fighting. You're going to the _future_...you're obviously more skilled than any other person here." she says. I smile and take her hand, and we walk together to the dining hall, my rumbling stomach ready for breakfast.

Once we get there Grover runs up to me and gives me a high-five.

"Way to go, man. I heard that you had a quest." he exclaims.

"Oh, yeah. I'm guessing Chiron told you, huh?" I ask

"Yeah, but he said he'd better let you tell me about it."

"After breakfast. I'm too hungry to talk now."

We agree to meet up at the sword arena so I can tell him about the quest later. I sit myself down at my table, and after some daily news told by Chiron, food appears on my plate. There's eggs, bacon, buttered toast, some pancakes, grits, and syrup, and my glass is filled with fresh orange juice. Annabeth meet at the fire pit, and she asks me what I'm going to put in.

"Hmm…some eggs and toast." I decide, putting exactly that in there. Closing my eyes, I ask for some help on my quest from my dad. A heavenly scent wafts up from the flames in response, and I smile. After saying goodbye to Annabeth, I go and sit back down at my table to finish off my food.

Once my plate is clean I leave the dining hall with my friends, us heading towards the sword arena to start on my schedule. I'm just beginning to explain my quest to Grover when we stop walking and stare ahead of us. Because standing in our path is a very angry Clarisse, a glint of evil in her eyes and looking like she's ready to kill anything that comes in her way.

Oh, boy. This'll be fun.

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Yeah, I don't like the ending much, but I decided leaving it here so I could have a some-what cliffie.

So, if anyone didn't already know this, the blonde in Percy's dreams is Diana, the girl he has to save. Any guesses to whom her great-great grandson is? Drop a review and tell me! Thanks for reading, and next chapter will be posted sometime next week!


	3. Chapter 3

I know this is kind of early, but as soon as I posted the second chapter I got writing on this one. And I surprisingly finished it today, and I didn't want to wait to post it tomorrow or later. It is a bit short, but at least this means I'll be able to post chapter four later on in the week. Enjoy!

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"Percy Jackson, I swear I'm going to kill you!" Clarisse yells, stomping over to me.

"Whoa," I say, holding up my hands, "what did I exactly do?"

"You know!" she shouts, pointing right at me. "You took my quest! _I _was supposed to have that quest! But no, the fish boy has to get it because he's Chiron's favorite!"

"Clarisse, Percy got the quest because he's well qualified for it. And besides, who ever said it was your quest to begin with?" Annabeth says.

"My dad! He said there was going to be an important quest coming up, and it was meant for me! And you stole from me!" she screeches.

"Clarisse, Chiron already gave it to me! It was never yours to begin with it. Now, if you'll excuse us," I say, walking past her, "I have to go and train."

She stands there, still fuming, but I couldn't care less. We just brush right past and head into the arena. There's a rack of swords and assorted weapons on the far wall, and I see a young boy carrying Riptide, walking towards us coming from there.

"Percy Jackson? I have your sword here. Chiron asked me to prepare it for you." he says, handing my weapon over.

"Oh, wow, thanks." I didn't know swords had to be prepared or anything, so I guess I must be doing some serious training.

"No problem. Your trainer is over there, in the center, ready to start."

"Cool, thanks man." I say. Annabeth and Grover go and sit in the stands while I head to the middle to meet a younger looking woman. I'm actually surprised my trainer is a girl; past ones have always been guys. But I can tell this girl is different than the others. She looks like an older teenager, but very, very mature. Someone who has been around a long time and seen many things. Her beautiful auburn hair is in a braid and she's wearing battling clothes. Her silver eyes sparkle with curiosity and she looks me over.

"Percy, how nice to see you again." she says, holding out her hand. I immediately recognize her by her voice, and I shake her outstretched hand.

"You too, Artemis. I didn't expect you would be helping me train for my quest." I say

"Well, I first refused, but when Chiron mentioned that I would be helping you save a young girl, I changed my mind. I figured, who else would be better to teach you how to take care of a young woman than the goddess of maidens herself?" she asks with a small grin. I smile, and we begin to go over a few basic sword moves.

In the beginning, she teaches me some easy ways to block simple sword movements. She told me to use a variety of them so my opponent won't be able to predict my moves as well. We sword fight for a bit after, me trying to block her as differently as I can, and then Artemis decides I have them down well enough. We move on to attacks; ways to hit them in vulnerable places that people don't usually think of protecting. I get those down much quicker, and I can tell she's impressed, especially since I'm a guy. And for a goddess who mostly uses a bow and arrow, she's one heck of a sword-fighter. I find myself working up a sweat just after thirty minutes. She calls for a break, and I jog up the steps to where Grover and Annabeth are sitting.

"You're doing good, Seaweed Brain." my ever-supportive girlfriend says.

"Yeah, taking down humans will be a piece of cake for you." Grover remarks.

"It already is." I say, wiping off my forehead with my sleeve. I'm wishing we could have talked longer, but Artemis calls me down to continue training.

The next week basically passes just like that. I get up, train for a couple of hours, and eat my meals. The only free time I have is right in the morning and right after dinner. Artemis believes in hard work that makes you constantly sweat, and she doesn't like taking no for an answer. Plus, one bad thing about training with an immortal god is they don't tire out as easily. In fact, they don't tire out at all, at least during our practice sessions.

Annabeth will sometimes come with me. She likes to sit in the stands and watch with intense eyes. We haven't been following our normal sword-training routines anymore since my whole day was taken up by those with me and Artemis, so she likes to observe and even take notes sometimes. She doesn't mind us not training anymore, for now, because she knows that I have to practice for my quest.

During the whole week, Chiron was slowly filling me in on the details of time travel. So far, he had told me that I would have to do practically nothing. I might even be asleep when I was transported, because it was much easier that way, but it didn't always work out like that for people. I didn't worry about it a lot, since I knew it wasn't a very complicated process that could go wrong easily. The date was set from the moment I accepted the quest: I would travel into the future on the upcoming Friday.

Which was tomorrow.

Everything flew by so fast, I didn't even have time to think much about the quest and all. But here I was, sitting in the Big House, going through the last details of it. Chiron asked me a bunch of different questions about what I had to do, and I answered each one perfectly.

"Well, Percy, I guess you're ready for this quest. I'm proud of you; most young demi-gods wouldn't want to take on such a challenging task. Now, you need to head to bed: you'll need a full night's rest." With that, Annabeth, Grover, and I leave to walk to the cabins. After we say goodbye to one another I go to the Poseidon cabin, get ready for bed, and then climb right into a bunk-bed. As soon as my head hits the pillow I'm out like a light.

My stomach immediately twists into knots when I wake the next morning. Today's the day. I'll just be traveling into the future and saving a girl from blood-thirsty humans who are the same age as me. Not a big deal.

After I'm dressed, I walk to the entrance of Camp Half-blood. My friends are standing there, waiting to say goodbye to me. Once I'm there I see a small van parked on the road, ready to go to New York. Grover walks over to me and we slap hands.

"Good luck, Perc. I know you can do it." he says

"Thanks, G-man. See ya soon, alright?" I respond. I then go up to Annabeth, and she's smiling at me.

"Now, I don't want you coming back here and having fallen in love with this girl you're supposed to save, alright?" she jokes. I smile and give her a long, tight hug.

"I'll miss you, Wise Girl. And don't worry: I'll be thinking about you every second of each day."

"I'll miss you too, Seaweed Brain. Good luck." After we kiss, I climb into the van, a small backback across my shoulders. Argus is sitting in the driver's seat, and as soon as I tell him it's okay to leave, we drive off. I lean against the window, slightly tired since I woke up a lot during the night. But luckily I can make that up now, so for the ride to New York I take a nap.

"We're here." I say a voice say. I blearily open my eyes to see that we're indeed near the Empire State Building. After Argus parks a small distance away, we both get out and walk to the building. Once we're in, we go straight to the elevators since we already have a key card. After pressing the button with the Omega sign on it, we zoom up hundreds of floors to Mount Olympus.

I'll probably never get used to the sight of it.

It's so lovely and just peaceful looking. And it's almost entirely finished with the repairs from the war. Argus says he's going to leave me by myself for now, since I won't really need a security guard from the elevator to the palace. A short goodbye and a long walk later, I'm passing through the large marble columns, heading into the great throne room.

Gods and immortals alike are standing in there, waiting for me, no doubt. Chiron happily smiles when he sees me, and walks up.

"Percy, welcome. I'm glad you arrived safely. Come, the process is about to start." With that, I go to the center of the room where a laid-back looking chair is. Chiron directs me towards it, so I go and sit down. Zeus, in a normal, human-being height, walks towards me.

"Percy. Nice to…see you, again." he says, somewhat unconfidently. I nod at him and then Chiron decides to save us from any more awkward conversation.

"Alright. Now, what I want you to do is try to fall asleep. Just lean back and don't think about anything." I nod my head and do just that.

_Don't think about anything. Don't think about anything. Don't think about anything, _I think. Oh, shoot, I'm thinking about not thinking. Okay, leave the mind blank. I clear away all my thoughts and then surprisingly doze off.

I must have been asleep for no more than ten minutes when I see a frightening image behind my eyelids. It's a big, swirling vortex, yanking me in through the center. I can feel the pressure pulling me, and my immediate thought is to fight: get away before it can take me. But there's something in my sub-conscious telling me to let it grab me. So I do. I completely let loose, and the swirling, death-like tunnel sucks me through.

I'm absolutely weightless.

Just floating around in a starry sky, swirling through large masses of fluffy clouds. I have no idea where I am or what I'm doing, but I really don't care. It's so peaceful here: dark and cold, but still nice and quiet. There's a swift current pulling me along, and I let is sweep underneath me, bringing me to my destination. And then without any warning, my nighttime seclusion suddenly ends. I fall off the edge, spiraling downward. Everything is going my so fast, and all I can wonder is what the heck am I doing? My arms flail around, searching for something to grab onto, to stop my rapid descent. But before I do find purchase among the chilly air, everything goes black.

And then I wake up.

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So what will happen next? Did the time-traveling process work out alright? Tune in for the next chapter to find out! And reviews are always appreciated!


	4. Chapter 4

**Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapters! Hope you enjoy this one!**

**Disclaimer: **I don't own PJO, Rick Riordan does.

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I'm lying on the ground, which is really uncomfortable, I might add. My whole body is sore and incredibly stiff, but I guess that's what you get when you time travel. My eyes slowly open to see a clear, blue sky above me, dotted by some tree branches. Sea grape trees, I think. I push myself up on my forearms and look around me. Sure enough, I'm sitting on the beach, hidden by the cluster of bushes. The ocean is splayed out in front of me, shining with sunlight. I feel groggy, and to top it off a headache is raging behind my eyes. But I can't just lie here, complaining about my aches and pains. I have to find the town square and get to the reaping.

With that, I get up off the ground and walk down the beach. No one is out here; I guess they're all rushing to the square. I see an opening in the dunes, so I jog up it and find myself on a small street with some buildings lined up on the side of it. It's like a ghost town around here with no one in sight. I run through a couple of streets, trying to find _someplace _where there's an actual person around. Finally, I come to a tiny plaza that looks like a market of some sort. There are stalls along the perimeter with people are scattered about, selling and buying stuff.

I slowly walk in, hoping to find someone I could follow into the Reaping square. I see a woman leading a small child by the hand, walking north, so I trail along after them. After a couple of blocks we arrive at another square, this one _much _larger than the last one. There's a large stage set up in the middle, with sets of chairs spread out in front, sectioned off by ropes. The youngest kids, the twelve-year-olds, are sitting on the far left, and the oldest, eighteen-year-olds, are on the far right. Every eligible kid is in between, with people younger and older standing out the very outer rim. I step over the rope leading to the long rows of chairs and look for someone my age. I see a couple of teenage boys horsing around in the first row, and I walk up to them.

"Um, is this the sixteen-year-old's section?" I ask.

"Yeah, you new at this or something?" one boy, the leader it looks like, asks, and they rest snicker and laugh.

"Somewhat." I say before walking a few rows back and plopping onto a chair. Chiron said that they'll ask for volunteers after the names are called, so I will and Diana is supposed to also. I sit back and relax for a few minutes, but sit up when I see the mayor and some other people walk up the steps and onto the stage. Nearly every seat in the area is full; the place is completely packed. I'm very cautious, looking around for suspicious people, even though I know I'm not supposed to be targeted now. Natural instinct, I guess.

"Greetings, all, and welcome to the 15th annual Hunger Games reaping. Many years ago, our country…" he drags on about the history of Panem, how the Hunger Games came around and about the "Dark Days". I completely zone out for the next hour and a half, since I've already heard this from Chiron.

I jerk back to consciousness when I hear an ear-splitting yell erupt from the speakers.

"Happy happy Hunger Games, everyone! How's my _favorite_ District doing this year?" a young woman screams from the microphone. I immediately recognize her from a photo I saw. Tara Giam, typical Capitol nut job. Man, she really is a character, I think. She has 10-inch heel stilettos on her feet, straight as an arrow blue hair that reaches the back of her knees, and scary pink eyes. Her face has several silver designs traced on it, looking as though they were carved straight in with a knife. Her poofy, plastic dress is an eye-blinding hot pink and she must be at least six feet tall, even without the pumps on. A few people, all careers, whoop and cheer, including girls who seem to idolize Tara. There's a lot of them, young teenagers who dress like her and look up to her. In fact, a girl sitting in front of me has a blue hair and stenciled eyes just like Tara. I roll my eyes as she continues talking about how she loves us and is so excited for this. What a dimwit. Finally, she introduces the previous victors. There's around five I think, which is impressive seeing as this has only going on fifteen years. But only two show up today, both who are willing to be mentors to me and Diana. The first is a 26-year-old boy named Kenton who won the 5th Hunger Games, and a 19-year-old girl named Meri who won last year. They're both wary on stage, darting their eyes around the crowd, but Kenton is more confident, since he's been a mentor before and he's older.

"Alriiiiight, it is time to pick our lucky contestants! Ladies first, of course." Tara says. She reaches her hand into the clear bowl and snags a slip of paper with her blue nails. She pulls it out and walks back to the microphone.

"Our lovely girl tribute this year is…Nera Callsin! Come on up!"

I see a girl of around fourteen get up from the crowd and walk towards the stage. Looking at her face, you wouldn't think she was scared, but I see her hands and legs slightly shaking. She ascends the steps and stands by Tara, nervously looking out at the ground, probably praying in her head that someone takes her spot.

"Any volunteers?" Tara asks.

And then, a voice rises above the crowd.

"I volunteer!" A girl of around my age springs up from the sixteen-year-olds section, with straight blonde hair and bright blue eyes.

Diana. She's even more beautiful than in my dreams. Nera walks off the stage, a happy grin spread across her face, and Diana takes her place.

"Oh my, how amazing! It's always so great when we have volunteers! And especially when they're so pretty! What is your name?" Tara asks.

"Diana Leason." she says abruptly.

"Well, happy Hunger Games! Now, we'll pick the boy's name." Tara walks over to the other bowl and chooses a piece of paper.

"Pensen Overil!" she yells. A guy who must be eighteen stands up, confidently smiling, and gets on the stage. He has short, brown hair and must be some type of body-builder.

Career, that's what he is. Someone who trains for the Hunger Games. Well, I guess he's never going to compete.

"I volunteer!" I shout, standing up. The grin from Pensen's face vanishes, replaced with a look of utter confusion. I'm guessing he's been waiting for this chance his whole life, and he thought no one would ever dare take it. He was mistaken. An angry scowl crosses his face and he walks down the steps. I meet him at the bottom and can't help but give him a hearty smile. I walk up the steps and stand next to Diana, who's looking at me funnily.

"Your name, 'hon?" Tara asks, leaning towards me. I pull away slightly when I smell the alcohol on her breath.

"Percy Jackson."

"Well, aren't you a cutie? Wow, two volunteers in _one _day! This is so exciting!" she says, and I suppress my scoff. There's at least one volunteer every year.

"Alright, shake hands you two." Tara says, giggling.

Diana puts out her hand and I shake it. Her eyes are curious, looking as though she's trying to figure me out. I give her what I hope is a reassuring smile, but she still seems perplexed. We then are turned away from each other, and carted through the doors of the Justice Building.

* * *

**Sorry this was so short, but I'll update soon. Thanks for reading, and remember that reviews are always amazing! **

For information on my stories, you can visit my new blog at http:/mj728fanfiction(dot)blogspot(dot)com


	5. Chapter 5

**AN:**

Thank you all so much for sticking with this story, and I'm very sorry for not posting in such a long time! I couldn't get to my computer because I was on vacation, but now that I'm back I'll make sure to update every week!

**Disclaimer: **I don't own The Hunger Games or PJO.

* * *

I'm ushered into a small room with light green paint on the walls and fluffy coaches. I plop myself down on one and sigh. No one's going to come and visit me, so I guess I'm just going to sit here until Diana's finished. But then, a few minutes later the door surprisingly opens. In storms the boy I volunteered for: Pensen Overil. He walks over to where I'm sitting, face red and hands clenched into fists. I get up from my couch and back up a bit.

"You took my spot! This was my last year to volunteer. I've been training my whole life for this!" he says, pointing a finger in my face.

I decide to get just a bit farther away.

"Look I'm sorry and all, but I've been training for a while too." I tell him, holding up my hands.

"Yeah? A while? I've been doing this for twelve years!"

"Hey, it's not my fault you decided to take your chances and wait this long, right?" I ask. He seems to consider this for a moment, and then sighs deeply. I think he's calmed down a bit; probably just needed to blow off some steam. He's still giving me a glare though.

"Fine, but if I can't win the Hunger Games, Diana should. I know you'll want to win as much as anything, seeing as you volunteered, but can you at least keep her safe for a while? Promise me that at least." he asks.

I'm actually surprised at this change of behavior. I didn't think he was a…compassionate kind of guy.

"Yeah, I'll keep her safe." I tell him. "Don't worry."

He nods briskly, and then walks right out.

I don't even have a second to sit down before guards come in and direct me towards the door. I walk out and see Diana standing out there, her face impassive. I smile at her, and she nods. The security brings us outside of the Justice Building and since the train station is so close we walk to it. As soon as we get there reporters with their cameras are run up to us and snap our pictures, trying to get good shots. I make sure my face is swept clean of any emotion and we load onto the train. As soon as we board it begins to move, and we're directed into our fancy tribute rooms. There's a bedroom, changing area with drawers full of fresh clothes, and a bathroom accompanied by a large shower.

I undress and hop into the shower, and find myself faced with several buttons on the wall and even an illuminated screen. I press three of them at random and soon lukewarm water pours out, accented by a painfully thick scent of strawberries that wafts down from the ceiling. The smell is so nauseating that I have to jump out of the shower before I begin throw up. I dress in some clothes that I can wear to bed, and when Tara comes to bring me to dinner, I tell her I would rather get to sleep early. I know her, Diana, and our mentors will also watch the reapings, but Chiron has already showed me the other tributes, so I don't need to. After Tara leaves, I get in the super-size, extra-fluffy bed and drift off into another dream-filled sleep.

When I wake the next morning, the sun is shining brightly through the window and there's a quick rapping sound coming from my door. I get up and open the door to see Meri standing outside.

"Hey, we're going to be at the Capitol in a couple of minutes. Get ready." she says.

I go back into my room and change into clothes that were in a drawer, and then join Diana outside in the dining car. She's sitting at a small table, just finished with her breakfast, and I take the other seat.

"Hey, food here any good?" I ask. She gives me a small smile before replying.

"Best I've ever had." Just then, the train goes dark, the windows completely black as if it was night outside. We're speeding through one of the many tunnels that surround the Capitol, the only places you can enter through on the ground.

After a few minutes we're back in the open, bright sunlight streaming in between the curtains. Diana gets up and walks to the window, looking out with fascination in her eyes. I get up and join her, and then realize that the pictures Chiron showed me are nothing compared to the actual sight of the Capitol. There are so many buildings, all towering above one another, glistening against the sky. Fancy cars move along the wide roads that look as though they were never driven on before. Outlandish residents walk here and there, with different colored hair and skin.

"One big freak-show, huh?" I hear Diana say, breaking me out of my reverie. I look over at her, seeing that she's squinting her eyes. She sighs and walks away from the window, grabs a cup of coffee from the table, and leaves the room.

* * *

"Well, looks like we're almost finished! Okay?" Artois, one member of my prep team, squeaks at me.

As soon as we arrived at the train station we were taken to the Remake Center, which is where I've been for around an hour now, getting tweaked and redone. It's pretty awful, especially since I'm a guy, and my prep team is completely crazy.

First, there's Artois, who's extremely thin, has pale blue skin, and long, golden hair. She's definitely the most bubbly, always ending her sentences with a squeak. Next, Elbea, the one who has tattoos up and down her arms and legs, short hair that makes her look like a pixie, and an annoying, nasally voice. And last, Creto, the only male who specifically deals with hair. He has cropped, purple hair, golden cat-like eyes, and lots of nose piercings. They're clueless and idiotic, worrying over things like arriving at a party too early, but I know it's because they were just raised that way, so I don't let it get to me. Finally, after letting me soak in a bathtub full of a thick, slimy golden liquid and then rinsing me down, they let me wear a robe and take a seat on a small chair. As soon as the three of them leave, my stylist, Viola, comes in.

The first thing I notice about her is her eyes. They're _huge, _like big dinner plates and pretty scary, darting around the room, taking everything in. She walks over to me, bug-eyes looking me over critically, and then peers in closer.

"Hi, I'm-" I start, but she sticks a finger in my face to shush me. Then, she walks in a circle around me, towering over me in ridiculously tall heels. Must be a Capitol thing to wear really, really high shoes now.

She finally stops in front of me, and then gives a smile that shows off her pointed teeth. With that mouth and her purple hair pulled back into a painful-looking bun, she's practically a demon.

"I…am Viola." She says with a flourish and a bow, and then shakes my hand.

"Percy."

"Yes, very nice. Now, we shall get ready for the opening ceremonies. You are just going to die with excitement when you see your outfit!"

* * *

I may not be excited as Viola said I would, but at least my outfit isn't totally unbearable. It's actually kind of funny, because I'm dressed up like the King of the Sea, or something like that.

I can't help but laugh at the irony.

I'm standing on our deep blue chariot, dressed in board shorts and holding a majestic trident, which has sparkling jewels incrusted up and down it. I also have a crown placed on my head, which matches my trident. Viola is flitting around me, repositioning this and that and tweaking here and there when Diana comes in.

She actually has to be carried in and placed on the chariot by her prep team, because her stylist has dressed her to look like a mermaid, blue tail and all. She looks magnificent, really, with her blond hair curled and placed like a halo around her head, and a shining tiara on top of it, and then with glittery, sliver dust sprinkled around her whole body. They set her down on a seat made of abalone, which runs up and down the whole chariot.

"You look amazing. I'm serious, like a real mermaid." I tell her.

"Thanks. You do too. I think the crowd's really going to like us, huh?" she replies with a small smile.

"Yeah, definitely."

Then, Viola and Cloten, Diana's stylist, stand in front of us and give us directions for the ride around the City Circle: smile, keep our heads up, and be in character. And then the large doors open, and District 1 goes out. I take a few deep breaths, and then a few minutes later our sea-foam green horses pull us out into the bright sunshine.

I can hear _oohs _and _aahs _when people see us. I smile and try not to be too nervous. I look over at Diana, who's waving at people, blowing kisses and giggling. I turn back to the crowd and decide to aim for the young girls who are standing at the edge and squealing. I look each one in the eye and then give heart-stopping smiles and waves, and everyone starts screaming. I take a quick peak up at one of the large screens positioned around the circle and see that the cameras are being trained on us. Seeing us up there, looking fantastic and definitely the most amazing, gives me more confidence. I pick up my heavy trident and start moving it up and down in the air, earning shouts of our names from the crowd. I'm sure to any normal person I look foolish and idiotic, but the Capitol people are far from normal, and they adore us. Its amazing being up here, and from the glares I'm getting from the other chariots, I can tell some tributes are jealous of us. But I couldn't care less, because showers of flowers are raining down on our heads, and people in the crowd are cheering just for us.

* * *

**AN: **They're finally in the Capitol and starting the Games! Hope everyone enjoyed it and has a good weekend!

P.S. If anyone spots any type of spelling or grammar mistake, please tell me in a review or PM! Thanks!

For information on my stories (like character outfits), visit my new fanfiction blog at http:/mj728fanfiction(dot)blogspot(dot)com


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: **Sorry it took so long to update, but the end of the school year is coming up, which means a bunch of homework in preparation for exams. But I decided to cut this one short so I wouldn't be keeping you guys too long. Enjoy!

* * *

"Percy! It's time to wake up!" calls the shrill voice that could only belong to Tara. I suppress a groan and get up, but she opens the door and walks in before I can.

"Up and at 'em! Your first day of training starts in fifteen minutes!" she proclaims, and then walks out as fast as she came in. Figuring that I have no time to waste, I pull myself out of bed and into the bathroom. The room that I'm staying in for now is similar to the one on the train, except its much larger and fancier. I take a quick shower and then dress in some simple clothes from the dresser. There's a small panel on the wall near my bed that you can order food from, and so I get a small breakfast. It doesn't even take a minute before my plate arrives out of a hole, fresh and piping hot. I quickly eat everything, and then go into the hallway.

As soon as I come out, I see Diana leaving her own room.

"Hi," she says, walking up to me. "We're supposed to go to training together. Ready?"

"Yeah," I tell her, and we ride the elevator down to the gymnasium.

When we get there everyone's faces turn towards us, jealously playing out on some, fear on others. The smaller, weaker tributes are intimidated; the careers and ones from richer districts envious of our grand chariot ride yesterday.

After we have our districts' numbers pinned onto our backs, we're free to wander around and participate at different stations. Kenton and Meri instructed us to learn new things and not show off. We could perfect some of our skills, but pretend like we didn't know much if we did.

"Want to go study some plants?" Diana asks me.

"Yeah, sounds fun," I reply.

My whole day is spent learning new things, sometimes with Diana and sometimes not. I studied berries and found which were poisonous and which were edible, and learnt a couple of new effective knots. I climbed the long rope that hangs from the center of the gym, all the way to the top, and then tossed around a couple of knives, letting the trainer there help me perfect my aim.

At lunch, Diana and I decide to sit with a tribute from five, a frail girl with pale skin and dark hair named Cora, and Met, a quiet but impressible large boy from eleven. They both had their strengths while training; Cora able to run fast and dodge objects due to her small frame, and Met strong in hand-to-hand combat, plus impeccable aim. Diana said she didn't plan on making alliances with the careers, and I agreed. We talked minimally, but I'm pretty sure that's because we were busy stuffing our faces with gourmet dishes.

But I always kept my eye on the Gamemakers during our three training days. They mostly ate from the large buffet and got drunk off the wine, but I saw them taking notes and observing us sometimes. At the end of our training, we have to go into a private session with them. After we're finished, they give us a training score; 1 the worst, 12 the best.

We're all sitting down in the dining room on the last day, the careers shoveling food down their mouths as usual, while the rest of the smaller, weaker tributes seem to have lost their appetite out of nervousness. But I still eat a full lunch, not really worried about my private session. I don't want to sound arrogant or cocky, but I know my score's going to be at the least good.

Before I know it, six tributes have already gone, and my name is being called.

"Good luck," says Diana before I go into the gym by myself.

I'm glad to be going early on, since the Gamemakers are still interested and not completely drunk. I feel bad for Kelse, the District 12 girl tribute, because by the time she goes, they'll be completely wasted and extremely bored.

I head to the large display of swords by the wall first. I pick up one that is most similar to Riptide, and the one I've been using, and start to swing it around at first. The Gamemakers high above don't seem to be paying much attention to me, but then I begin to really show off.

I start by taking out several dummies with two, quick moves, somersault and chop another's bottom half off, spin around and thrust my sword into the heart of another, and then end with a swift move that leaves three decapitated.

I can't help but look up at the Gamemakers, who are thankfully leaning towards me and paying attention. Now I've got them.

With two swords in my hands, I put on a show that involves every dummy that comes into my sight being maimed or mutilated in some way. Once I even exchange one of my swords for a spear and I take out two dummies with it. My natural instincts kick in and I feel unstoppable.

I pause only when I hear the clapping of the Gamemakers. I look up to the elevated stands, where they sit and smile at me.

"Excellent, Mr. Jackson. You are dismissed," a man says to me. I thank them and leave, a smile myself growing on my face as I walk into the elevator.

After tonight's dinner is finished, we all go into the sitting room to see our scores. I try not to feel nervous, because, really, what do I have to be anxious of, but I still feel a little apprehensive. District 1 is shown first, the girl with the super-model face pulling a 9 and her male counterpart a 10. Both tributes from District 2 get a nine, and the tributes from District 3 pull average scores. And then my face is shown, a number 10 flashing below it. Ten, yes! I'm tied for best with the District 1 male!

Our mentors and stylists congratulate Diana, who got a 9, and me, telling us that we did great and giving us hugs.

"Now…we must back up your…impressive score…with an amazing outfit for the…interview night," Viola tells me.

"Yeah, can't wait," I say.

"Percy, great score. What'd you do for them?" Kenton asks. I'm surprised by this, him talking to me, because he usually stays quiet and only speaks when offering advice.

"Oh, just some sword work. Like you told me to do," I say.

"Great, you'll be getting lots of sponsors now, I'm sure. But tomorrow we'll be training for our interview, so get lots of rest, alright?"

"Yeah, can't wait," I say.

I head back to my room awhile later, after saying goodnight to everyone. Once I take a shower and change, I get into my bed and fall into a dream-filled sleep.

* * *

I feel like my author's notes are longer than the chapter itself...but at least you got something, right? No? Well, whatever the case, see you next time!


	7. Chapter 7

**AN:** It's interview night! I'm so happy (and relieved) to have finally gotten here. And...this is my longest chapter so far, by about 200 words. But hey, it counts! Also, I'm super sorry that I haven't updated. I would've posted a week earlier, but my computer was blocking a bunch of sites, so I couldn't. But...I finally got around it, so enjoy!

* * *

"Walk with confidence onto the stage. Keep your head held high, and don't be so slow," Tara instructs me, using her hawk eyes to catch every little move that I make.

"Never look at the ground. Make eye contact. Smile often, but not too much. And don't use the same smile in a row, remember to change it up a bit." She uses her long pointer stick to slap my hands, telling me to keep them at my sides when walking to and from places.

"Ouch, would you quit that already?" I ask, rubbing my palms. As if this 4-hour-long presentation training for our interview night wasn't bad enough, now I'll have bruised and bloody knuckles.

"It's the best way to break your habit. You can't be twiddling your thumbs tomorrow night, it's a sign of nervousness," she says.

"Alright, alright," I say, going back to my starting position and trying to make a successful entrance again. Once I get to my ending mark, Tara instructs me on how to take my seat.

Actually, she spends twenty minutes telling me how to take my seat, and then another hour on perfecting me when I finally try. The end result is a smooth and suave, charming and confident guy who will make all the teenage girls in that audience swoon when they see me.  
Unfortunately, this boy only exists in me from when I walk from the wings to my chair, while in a line with the rest of the tributes. I still need "extensive work", as Tara puts it, for my interview and all the time in between.

We sit down together, in a position that's similar to how me and Julius Raveson, the interviewer, will be sitting, and begin my unbearably long and equally torturous training.

...

I barely make it back to my room before I collapsed from exhaustion.

All day long I was stuck with Tara, working out my "presentation kinks" as she puts it, and then training with Meri and Kenton to decide an interview angle and how to use it. They finally decided that I should go for that smooth, confident, all-knowing, laid-back persona: I knew everything there was to know, every person out there, every answer to any question. My mentors interviewed me extensively, making sure I had all the information I needed to know.

But now, as I deflated onto my nice and cushy bed, all that knowledge slowly disappeared from my mind as I gave in to the sweet sensations of sleep.

...

_Five more minutes…_I thought, no _begged, _as I felt something poking me in the side. I grumbled and rolled over, but the poking just followed.

"Oh, my, he's just adorable when he sleeps," someone squeaks from above me.

"Who cares, Artois? Lift him up, Creto," says another person.

"_But_ _Elbea_…my arms were just done…and I _really _don't want them ruined…could you, maybe, please?" says a third voice.

"Fine," the second person grumbles. And then I feel a pair of strong, muscular arms slip underneath me, lift me off the bed, and then dump me on the floor.

"Oh! Elbea! Now he'll have a bruised face!" shrieks the squeaky one.

"Percy! Get up already!"

I slowly open my eyes to see my prep team leaning over me, Artois giggling, Creto already carefully observing my hair, and Elbea with her arms crossed and a disdainful look on her face.

"Well…" she begins, "let's get this over with already."

…

"Your hair…it's just amazing," Creto says, leaning in even closer and examining my scalp.

"Yeah, I'm guessing it is, you've been working on it for over two hours,"

"Hold on, I'm almost finished," he says, walking in a circle around me and pulling a comb through my hair again.

"There! Fabulous." He brings a mirror in front of me so I can finally see what my head looks like. I stare blankly at it, because truthfully, I don't see what's so great about it. But Creto is beaming, happily excited to see my reaction, so I put on my best smile.

"It's…awesome, just great," I say.

"Yes, it is outstanding! They'll love you!" he replies, and then runs off to go get Viola.

"Well, you look great, Percy. People will definitely think you're a cool cat!" Artois says, clearly happy with her work.

The whole day was spent with the three of them once again preparing me for my stylist. And now that they're finally finished, Viola will come in and dress me for tonight.

Right on cue, I think, as she swoops into the room, bug-eyes highly exaggerated with bright blue makeup and her feet dressed with foot-tall platform shoes filled with swirling, silver liquid.

"Oh, tonight…Percy…you will make the greatest impression…the audience will…simply love you." she says to me breathlessly, while Elbea and Artois turn me around so that I face away from the mirror and don't see my outfit, which Viola is unveiling now.

"Great." I reply, while they slip off my robe and pull me into my outfit. There's a whole bunch of tweaking and adjusting, until they finally seem to have gotten it on right and turn me around.

"Wow," I breathe when I get a good look at myself in the mirror. I'm wearing a very classy, sophisticated suit made of deep, obsidian black cloth. It makes me look older and mature, like I know what I'm doing at all times. My shirt is a perfectly clean and crisp white, and my tie a rich, sapphire-colored blue.

"Very…cultured, I believe." Viola comments as she walks around me.

"I think it captures your...how do I put this?" Elbea asks while polishing my shoes.

"Essence?" Creto perks up, from behind me.

"Yeah, whatever. Makes you look smart,"

"Oooh you're going to rock that stage!" Artois shrieks before engulfing me in a hug.

"Careful!" Viola shoots forward, immediately pressing some strange, heating iron to my chest and moving it back and forth over the suit, no doubt trying to erase any non-existent wrinkles.

"Everyone, it's time!" Creto suddenly shouts, causing them all to stop and then quickly usher me to the door while whispering words of encouragement and good luck.

Viola accompanies me to the elevator, where the rest of the District 4 team is waiting.

And I have to admit, Diana is the most stunning thing I've ever seen.

She's wearing a very large but absolutely beautiful dress, starting out with a tightly woven corset at the top, and then flaring out into a big skirt at the waist. It must weigh over fifty pounds, but she still manages to look as skinny as ever in it. I don't think there's a color to describe it; whenever she moves the lights catches the fabric in different places and shimmers magnificently. Her hair is perfectly straight, but with braids weaving in and out in several places.

But as I walk towards her, all I can see in her place is Annabeth, standing there, glowing in pure happiness. I have to stop and blink a couple of times, and then does Diana's face reappear. As I walk up to her, she puts her hand on my arm.

"You okay? You look a little frazzled," she says, laughing slightly.

"Yeah, sorry," I say, shaking my head, "I just think I'm seeing things."

"Well, don't be nervous. You look awesome." she says. I nod my head, but still can't get that image of Annabeth's face out of my mind. It's then that I realize it's because I _want _it to be Annabeth, standing in front of me, smiling and looking happy; I miss her terribly.

But now I can't think about that. I have to concentrate on going out there and being my best, so that I'll get sponsors and win this thing. Or at least come in second, and then let Diana win.

"So do you. Like a goddess or something," I say encouragingly. It's then that I remember that Diana is, in fact, half-goddess. The child of which one, I've yet to find out. Chiron told me that I would have to discover whose she was on my own, which I wasn't particularly happy about.

"Alright, everyone, time to go!" Tara shouts, leading the way into the elevator. We all climb in, and then ride up to the top. Once we get there, I'm overwhelmed by all the people, and all the tributes.

Well, frightened really. The Careers look particularly menacing and alluring at the same time, while the tributes from districts like 6, 8, and 9 all look so innocent. But, I tell myself that I, too, look impressive, and that I'll have the audience swept up in admiration by the time I'm through.

We all get into a single-file line, Diana in front of me and little Cora behind me. I stretch my arms out, shake my hands, and then take a few deep breaths. _Okay, get it together, Percy. You can do this, _I think to myself. Right, I can do this. And with the roaring thunder of applause and cheers coming from the audience as our cue, we walk onto the stage and to our seats.

...

I don't look towards the crowd, just straight ahead, until I get to my chair. Once I take my seat, I look out to the audience and smile slightly, confidently. They're all screaming, appraising us and cheering, and chanting some of our names. I'm delighted to hear even a "Percy!" a few times.

Once we're all in our seats, the interviews begin with Julius Raveson coming onto the stage. He's smiling brightly, waving towards the crowd, and introduces us to the audience. Julius has been the host for the interviews since the first Hunger Games, but apparently rumors have been going around that he'll resign soon. But he's confirmed that he won't be leaving for a while, at least another ten years or so.

He warms up the audience with a couple of jokes, and then takes his chair and the girl from District 1, dressed in a very short silver dress, stands up and goes to take her interview with Julius. Apparently, her stylist doesn't have a problem with revealing a little too much. But the audience loves it; you can tell by the way they're screaming her name over and over. Soon, District 1, 2, and 3 have all gone and Diana is now getting up. She walks over to Julius and sits down, her dress shimmering every which way.

The interview goes flawlessly, Diana's angle the sweet, charming, and perfectly innocent young girl. And all too soon, it's my turn.

I walk over and sit down, heart racing and my palms slightly sweating. But Julius gives me an encouraging smile and shakes my hand firmly.

"How are you doing tonight?" he asks.

"Great. Truthfully, I've been waiting for this forever," I say, hoping my voice comes off as confident.

"Really? A lot of tributes just dread it," he responds.

"Well, not me, Julius. The interviews are one of the main reasons I volunteered." I say, earning some laughs from the audience.

"So, Percy, tell us: how different is the Capitol from District 4?"

"Well, for starters, there's more people who know who I am. Everywhere I look I see someone screaming my name." More laughs.

"Yeah, I'll bet. There must be tons of people out there who would like to sponsor you after seeing that training score. You and Dace are tied for the best score at ten." he says. Dace…Dace…oh, right, he's the boy tribute from District 1. "That's got to feel pretty nice, right?"

"Amazing, really. But I don't need a number to tell me how qualified I am, Julius." The audience laughs, and cheers a bit.

"Right, of course, Percy. Now, let's talk about that chariot ride. Your costume just blew my mind. Both of you and Diana's costumes. Now, what did you think of it?"

"I thought it was a great presentation of our district. And our stylists couldn't have done better."

"Oh, of course." he agrees, "Plus, your stylist did a fantastic job dressing you tonight, Percy. You look just fantastic. Doesn't he look amazing?" Julius asks, turning towards the crowd.

They scream, clap, cheer as they stand up, while I lean back and laugh. It's just all so silly and twisted, I think.

Don't they have better things to do than obsess over how well-dressed a couple of kids are, who they don't even know? Who the majority of will be dead in a few days? But it's sick, truthfully, that they could get enjoyment over this. I feel like jumping up and shouting to them _"Do you know how wrong this is? How _awful_ it is that you get a kick out of watching a bunch of kids kill each other and innocent children die?" _

But as the audience calms down, Julius laughing happily, I make a silent vow to myself: that I won't kill anyone in that arena unless it's absolutely necessary. I won't kill them unless they're posing a direct threat to me or, especially, Diana.

After all, that is my quest: to keep Diana protected at all costs, so that she can one day save this cruel and hostile country that so desperately needs their hero.

...

I barely remember the rest of my interview.

I know I must have said some things that were funny, because I can recall the audience laughing more. After I'm finished and back in my seat, I practically zone out. Before I know it, we're all standing up for the national anthem, and then being herded back to the wings as the crowd cheers. Diana catches up with me, saying how great and charismatic I was. I tell her that she, too, was awesome, and we board the elevator together.

"Listen, Percy, I think we need to talk," she says, after everyone else gets off and we're alone.

"About what?" I ask, as the doors open and we get off at floor four.

"About what we're going to do in the arena. Because, we seem to be really getting along well, right?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"Good, I agree. And that's why I think we should be allies. I think with your sword skills and strength, and my bow-and-arrow training and agility, we could be a great team. We'd be able to knock out anyone who came in our way. And we could even form alliances with some useful tributes early on, and then break them off as the Games go along." she says. I smile happily at this notion, relieved that she also thought we could make an alliance with each other.

"That sounds amazing, Diana. I'm totally up for it," I say.

"Really?" she asks, a smile already forming. "Awesome, Percy. This is great. _We'll _be great."

We say goodbye to each other at our rooms, and then both go in. After I change into my night clothes and climb into bed, I end up lying in there for awhile, just thinking. Thinking about Annabeth, my alliance with Diana, my interview with Julius, and especially about tomorrow. I'm nervous, of course, but I soon realize that I'll need to get some rest, so I turn over onto my side and fall asleep.

* * *

Thanks for reading, everyone! The Games will begin _very _soon, promise! Drop a review and tell me your questions/comments like...

Whose your favorite member of the prep team? What do you think of Percy's little vow? And, do you think Diana's going to be faithful to their alliance? Can't wait to hear from you all!  
...

For information on my stories (like inspiration for my characters) visit my new fanfiction blog at http:/mj728fanfiction(dot)blogspot(dot)com


	8. Chapter 8

17 days later...Yeah, sorry for the long wait, but I've been busy working on my other stories. Unfortunately, I'll be gone the entire month of July, so I'll try to update during then, but it will be unlikely that I can. Anyway, on with the show!

* * *

Instead of lying in bed, wishing I could stay asleep for just a few minutes like every other morning I've been here, I'm wide awake and staring at the ceiling. I can't find the will to get up, but I'm too nervous to fall back asleep.

My mind is spinning, unable to stop thinking about today.

What's the arena going to look like? A desert, forest, jungle? Will there be trees, or water?

Of course there's going to be water, or else the Games wouldn't be very entertaining for all the Capitol residents. But what if, at the beginning, I'm unable to find Diana in time and I have to leave her? What if she gets killed during the bloodbath? That would defeat the whole purpose of this quest.

Luckily, Viola comes to my room and gets me before my pops off from all this worrying. She lets me dress in simple clothes before we leave and go to the roof. Once we get there, a hovercraft appears and I climb onto the ladder. I'm stuck onto it until it pulls me up into the ship, where it lets me free after a man in a white coat injects a tracker into my arm. An Avox leads me and Viola to a room, where an elaborate breakfast is laid out, and we take off.

I try to eat a lot, because there's the possibility that I may not get food for a while. Once I load up on breakfast, I sit down in a chair near the window and watch as the forest goes by. But the windows suddenly go black, so I know that we've arrived at the arena.

As soon as the hovercraft lands, Viola and I exit by climbing down the ladder and into the catacombs beneath the arena. We go into the launch room, where the package containing my clothing is sitting. The tributes all wear the same outfit; this year it's a blue shirt, thin black jacket, black pants, and sturdy boots.

"These are…very nice pants. You can…roll them up easily…very nice," she says, putting them on me. "And the jacket…wonderful quality…thin if it gets hot…but can reflect your body heat…if it gets cold." Once she's finished lacing up my boots, she stands up and asks, "Percy…do you have your token?"

Token? Oh, right, Chiron told me that each tribute is allowed a small token from their district to remind them of home, or to give them hope. Something like that. I forgot to bring one.

"No, I don't have one," I tell her.

"Then…we should not worry…about that." A voice says that it's time for launch, so I nervously walk over to the metal plate. Viola gives me a hug, which is strange because she's so abnormally tall, but I hug her back anyway.

"Do you best, Percy. I am sure that…you will be great. And…good luck," she says, smiling at me. I say goodbye and walk backwards onto the plate.

It slowly begins to ascend, bringing me upwards. I'm stuck in the dark for a few seconds and then completely above ground, the butterflies racing around in my stomach.

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the 15th Hunger Games!"

...

I begin counting down the seconds as I wildly look around me. To my right is what looks like the beginning of a swamp, with lots of trees interlaced with Spanish moss and murky water. In front of me is a lush forest, full of green trees and grass. I spin around, cautiously staying on the plate, to see the ground suddenly slope downwards farther away, into what looks like a wide prairie. I turn back around, still counting down the seconds in my head, to face the Cornucopia gleaming in the sunlight and full of supplies. The closest thing to me is a small bundle of black fabric, which could be useful. I spot Diana directly across from me, who is also eyeing all the provisions. Her eyes suddenly light up when she looks at the mouth of the Cornucopia. There's a beautifully crafted bow and a quiver stock-full of lethal arrows. If Diana's not able to reach them in time, then I'll make sure to grab it for her.

38…37…36.

I'm elated to find a long sword lying near the bow and arrow, nestled safely in its sheath. Perfect.

I also see several backpacks scattered around the weapons. 23..22…21. As soon as we get our stuff, we'll run into either the forest or possibly the swamp, along with a few other tributes that could be useful. Maybe Cora; she's small and probably hard to catch. If I can get to her in time, then she could join us. But I don't have enough time to look for her either.

3…2…1.

The gong rings out loudly as I race across the field, picking up the black cloth and searching around for Diana, only to find her standing right next to me.

"Whoa! How did you-" I begin, but she cuts me off.

"No time! I'll grab the best supplies closest to the Cornucopia, you get some stuff around the edges and we'll meet up at the edge of the forest. Grab something to defend yourself with!"

And with that, she sprints away. Following her instructions, I reach down and pick up a small knife from the ground, and then stuff the cloth into a backpack I picked up before slinging it around my shoulders.

_Whoosh!_

A dagger flies by me, nearly chopping off my right ear. I spin around to see the girl from District 1, Mauve or Mave or something like that, standing a few yards away from me. She tries taking me out again with a second knife, but I dodge it easily. I grip my own weapon and prepare to run over and attack her, when suddenly a spear flies through the air and pierces her upper arm.

She cries out and clutches her wound, but yanks out the weapon and begins to run away. I deliberate whether to chase after her, but decide against it; I need to get supplies now, and I'll most likely have another chance to kill her later.

I pick up a coil of rope and put it in a second backpack that I pick up. I also spot a small, clear plastic case nearby that looks a lot like a medicine kit. Keeping an eye out for attackers, I run over to it and pick it up. Sure enough, there's a red cross sign on the front, signifying that there's medical supplies in it. I sling it over my arm and decide to find Diana now; I've gotten enough provisions and there's more deadly tributes closing in.

"Percy! Over here!" I hear someone shout. I whip around, facing the forest, to see Diana standing at the tree line and yelling to me.

"I'll cover you, run!" she screams, slinging an arrow into her bow and aiming somewhere behind me. With that, I sprint across the field towards her. I pump my legs even harder when she releases the arrow, whizzing through the air and audibly hitting something, or someone, behind me. Once I finally make it to her, she slides the bow over her shoulder and we take off into the forest.

I keep just a few paces behind her as we dodge the trees and try not to trip over roots. She's a fast runner, something I discovered when I realized she made it across the entire field to me in just a few seconds. But now she's pacing herself, not trying to run too fast, so that she'll be able to go longer.

The adreniline is still pumping through my veins, though, but the shock is slowly wearing off.

...

After nearly twenty minutes of running, we slow down to a light jog, and then eventually begin walking. I'm panting heavily, the sweat dripping down my back. And when I look over to Diana, I see she's just as winded as I am.

"Let's stop here for a minute," she says, stopping and sitting down on a fallen log. "We should look over our supplies and rest."

I take off my jacket and begin unloading the backpacks I picked up. In the first one is a tiny tin can, which contains a few matches and fire starters. The rest is mostly food; dried apples, strips of meat, cereal, crackers, and some canned beans. The next pack contains an empty canteen, a sheet of stretchy plastic, a tiny kit with sewing supplies, and a coil of thin wire. The medical kit has the basics, including antibacterial ointment and bandages.

"Awesome, Percy. This is really great," Diana says beginning to unpack her stuff. And since she was much closer to the Cornucopia, everything she got is much better.

The backpack, which is camouflaged nicely, contains a quite large water-resistant blanket, a water purifier, a set of throwing knives, and a compass. She also got some daggers with wickedly curved blades that are easy to hide in the folds of our clothing. We each take two, so I strap one against my thigh and the other on my upper-arm. And last, the beautifully made sword that was resting near her bow and arrow.

I slide it out of its sheath and swing it around through the air, grinning when it makes a delightful _whoosh _sound.

"How's it feel?" Diana asks, rearranging our supplies so they're more organized.

"Perfect," I answer, sitting back down next to her, "but I wish I could carry the sheath around my shoulder, so I'll have both hands available while we're walking, you know?" She grins at me and then rummages through the bags, grabs the sheath, and turns away from me. I eat half a strip of meat while I wait for a few minutes, until she turns back around.

She's holding the sheath in her hands, but now there's a shoulder strap attached at the top, fashioned out of the rope and wire.

"Whoa…how did you do that?" I ask as she puts my sword back into the sheath and then slides it onto my arm. It rests perfectly there, not even bouncing around when I walk.

"Growing up in District 4, you learn a lot about knots and how to make things," she laughs. "But then again, I don't have to tell you that, do I?"

It takes me a second to understand, but once I do I join in in her friendly laughter.

"Oh, yeah," I remark, rubbing the back of my head.

"That's something I don't understand, Percy," she says, cleaning up and finishing the strip of meat. "I never saw you around in the District before the reaping day. And you've obviously been training for a while, right? So how come I never met you?" She turns towards me expectantly, training those intense blue eyes on me.

If I wasn't positive that the cameras were probably watching us right now, I may have come out and told her my whole story. After all, I was going to eventually, when the Games were farther along and she was starting to doubt our alliance.

But of course I couldn't, not here or now, so I just recited what I had been practicing for days before: "Oh, I lived on the outskirts of the District and didn't going into town much. I was with my uncle my whole life, and he trained me himself."

She nods and zips up the last bag, slinging it around her shoulders. "What…what happened to your parents?" she asks softly, like she was afraid I would be offended.

"Some freak fishing accident, or something like that, when I was just a baby. I never knew them, so it doesn't really matter. My uncle is just like my dad, you know?"

"Right," she says solemnly. I briefly wonder if I somehow hurt her feelings, but she just continues.

"I never see my parents much. My mom, she's not much of the…_mom _type, you know. She doesn't stay home and take care of me and my siblings. And my dad is always away, doing his important job."

"Oh, that must be awful," I say, because I know it must. I remember what growing up with Smelly Gabe was like.

"Well, sometimes it is and sometimes it's not. But I probably shouldn't be talking about this," she laughs, flipping her hair over her shoulder. "I'm sure everyone back home is watching me, sitting here and gossiping about my parents, and I'm sure you don't want to hear my personal problems."

"Oh, I don't mind. Of course, not about how you have problems, but I don't mind listening to them," I tell her truthfully. She just shakes her head and hands me the rest of our supplies, standing up next to me.

"No, it's okay. Besides, we should better get moving. I want to be at least another hour's walk away from the Cornucopia before we settle in for the night, and we should find some water soon." I nod my head in agreement, and with my sword in its sheath resting at my side and Diana holding her bow, ready with an arrow, we set off.

...

We alternate positions throughout our walk; every fifteen minutes we switch who walks in front and in back. It's a good way to make the time go by faster and to keep ourselves awake and alert. We decide not to talk, at least not a lot, so that we don't bring any attention to ourselves.

Once, when Diana was walking behind me, we suddenly heard a rustle coming from the bushes to our right. On instinct, she shot an arrow into them, and then I covered her as she went to investigate. It turned out to be just a small rabbit, which we decided to skin, cut up, and wrap up for later for when we could find some heat to cook it on.

Finally, after over an hour, we finally found a tiny little pond full of clear water, no more than four feet across.

"What luck," Diana said when we realized just how lucky we had gotten. There was the pond with fresh drinking water and surrounding it, several dense trees with cross-crossing branches far above the ground that would be perfect for sleeping in. And, we wouldn't have to dip into our dry food stash for our "dinner" tonight, because there were several water plants growing in the pond. The sun was rapidly setting, though, and Diana wanted us to be settled in by darkness.

"How about I purify the water and fill the canteens, while you set us up in the trees?" I suggest.

"Perfect. Oh, and be sure to collect some water plants also," she responds with a smile. While the water is being cleaned in the purifier, I gather some plants that I was sure were cattails and duck potatoes and rolled them up in a piece of cloth. We decided to eat up in the trees, because it was safer that way, and I'll admit it, it would be a little creepy staying down on the ground during the night.

Diana found two sets of branches that made a fork and were close to the trunk, perfect for sleeping on. We cut the large blanket in half, so that we each had our own and it was still a good size, and spread them out across our sleeping space. The air got freezing, though, as soon as the sun went down, so we yanked on our jackets and rolled our pant legs down.

Once we're completely settled in, the rest of our supplies tucked safely away a little higher up than us, we lean against the trunk and eat our food. A few minutes after darkness falls, the Capitol seal shines brightly in the sky and the anthem begins, followed by the faces of all of the tributes who died today.

The first shown is the boy from District 3, which means the tributes from 1 and 2 and all alive. Not surprising, even if the District 1 girl was wounded. Of course, no faces from District 4 or 5, meaning Cora made it out alive. All tributes are dead from Districts 6, 10, and 12, the girl tributes from 8 and 9, and the boy from District 7.

"I saw the District 7 girl, the District 8 boy, and the District 9 boy leave all together, in a pack. They're in an alliance," Diana tells me as their district partners faces' flash at us. The boy and girl from 11 are still alive, and most likely in an alliance, since Diana also saw them leaving in somewhat the same direction, though she's not sure.

"10 down, 12 to go," I say as the Capitol seal shines again and she lies down. I decided to take the first watch of the night.

"Can't wait," she mumbles, "Wake me up in two hours."

"See you then," I say, pulling my sword out of its sheath and resting it in my hand. Diana falls asleep in a few minutes, leaving me to sit there alone.

I expect it to be pretty boring; I doubt any tributes are going to be very active the first night. The less advanced ones are probably hiding somewhere, freaking out and praying they make it through the next day.

Maybe the Careers are out, walking around and looking for easy prey. No doubt they stocked up on supplies from the Cornucopia and are living off of that, which makes them a whole lot harder to kill. They're going to be well fed this entire time while the rest of us are only going to be eating the food we find. But, if we could-

_Snap!_

My heart stops beating when I hear the noise, coming from somewhere in front of our tree. I slowly and cautiously lean forward, peering out between the branches. I scan the ground nervously, all while wondering what the heck it is.

Then suddenly, my eyes meet the curved wooden bow holding the gleaming arrow, pointed right at me.

* * *

Oh no, cliffhanger! Sorry about that and all, but I just had to keep you wondering what was going to happen next for at least a month. Mwhahahahahaha!

However, if I'm feeling generous (and I'm not swamped), I may post again before July 1st. Keep your fingers crossed!

Oh, and a special thanks to the anonymous reviewer who pointed out little mistake. I won't say what it was so I can spare myself the humility...anyways, I owe you!

**Recap**

The tributes who are dead are:

District 3 Boy, District 6 Boy and Girl, District 7 Boy, District 8 Girl, District 9 Girl, District 10 Boy and Girl, and District 12 Boy and Girl. For the full recap, including alliances and such, visit my blog at http:/mj728fanfiction(dot)blogspot(dot)com.

...

For information on my stories (like character inspirations), visit my fanfiction blog at http:/mj728fanfiction(dot)blogspot(dot)com. Thanks!


	9. Chapter 9

**AN:** I won't bore you with stupid little sentences when there's a cliffhanger resolution awaiting you. So, onward my loyal readers!

* * *

I freeze completely, my blood turned to ice in my veins. _Oh my gods…_

What am I doing! MOVE PERCY! I crouch down immediately and roll over to my left, nearly landing on Diana.

"Hey, what's going on," she mumbles.

I grip her by her shoulder and pull her up while pointing to the ground.

"You see that? That person who was about to shoot me?"

She grabs her bow and loads an arrow, peering out through the branches.

"It's the District Three girl," she says. I look out and watch as the girl slowly moves forward across the ground, never moving her weapon.

"She's looking for you," Diana tells me. "Alright, I'll get down there. Just give me a few minutes."

Before I have time to say anything, she hops down from the tree quietly and makes a wide arc around. I watch with wide eyes as the District Three girl seems to gives up and walks away into the shadows beyond.

And then, a loud gasp and a heavy thud that comes from the direction she went.

_Boom! _The sound of the cannon resounds throughout the arena. Seconds later, Diana walks back to our tree and begins to climb up. I hear a strange whirring sound, and I look up just in time to see a hovercraft disappear into thin air.

"You killed her?" I ask as Diana puts her bow away and lies back down.

"Yeah, it was easy. I just waited until she came into view and shot her," she replies, closing her eyes.

"11 to go." I lean against the tree trunk, holding my sword, as Diana falls asleep. It amazes me how she could just ruthlessly yet carelessly kill someone like that. But I guess it comes naturally when you've been training for it your whole life.

...

"Percy, wake up."

I slowly open my eyes to see Diana rolling up her blanket and stuffing it in the backpack.

"I figured we'd maybe head towards that prairie today. I think we may find someone hiding out in there."

"Good idea," I respond, getting up and starting to put stuff away.

I hop down from the tree and scout out the ground before we move on. Once I signal her the okay, she climbs down and we set off.

"How long you think it's going to take?" I ask as we walk side-by-side.

"Well," she sighs, "it took us nearly the whole day to get to that spot yesterday, and now we'll be taking the long way around, because I think the Careers may be hanging out by the Cornucopia."

"So…awhile."

"Yes, definitely awhile."

"Let's try to pass the time. Want to talk more about your parents?" I ask, receiving a laugh from her.

"I doubt any cameras are on us, and I'm already bored. Why not?"

She takes a deep breath and seems to stall a bit before she begins.

"My dad used to spend time with us, a lot. He was just as busy, but he scheduled his job so that we could be with him. But then…some things happened…and I guess…I guess it became too hard for him."

"Too hard to reschedule his job?"

"No…too hard to see us."

"What? What happened?"

She shakes her head and keeps her eyes on the ground.

"I can't…it's nothing. Anyway, my mom just doesn't like kids that much," she states.

"Then why did she have them?" I ask incredulously.

"Well, she's my step-mom. My real, biological mom left just after I was born. My dad then re-married a couple of years later, to this seamstress named Maurah, and they had my half-brother and half-sister. But then she died, when I was fourteen.

I guess my dad always has to be with a woman, because he then got married to my second step-mom, Kaira. She's an heiress and…"

Diana shakes her head again and runs a hand through her hair.

"I shouldn't be saying this. They could be watching me right now."

"That's alright, you've said enough," I respond, a grin spreading across my face.

...

We walk for hours before taking a break. It's scorching hot and the sweat is running down my back in rivulets, but we didn't have the time for frequent breaks.

"Diana," I say, "maybe we should stop and see if we're going the right way. Climb a tree and see if we can find the prairie."

She stops alongside me and pulls her backpack on tighter.

"Alright. Here, let me climb this one and you stay down here."

She scales a towering tree and stops close to the top, keeping close to the trunk and holding on to the branches.

"You see anything?" I shout, trying to not be loud but also trying to get her to hear me.

"Not much, really. But it's so pretty up here, maybe you should come up."

I feel a slight tremor then in the ground. The vibrations run up my legs and send a chill down my spinal cord, warning me of danger.

"Diana," I call uneasily, "I think you need to get down here."

"What's wrong?" she asks, looking down.

"The ground, it's-"

I'm cut off mid-sentence by a sudden forceful shaking. The whole ground moves violently, so powerful that I lose my balance and fall to the ground.

"Diana!" I scream, looking up to see her holding on to the tree for dear life. "Get down!" I yell. But it's too late.

The immensely powerful shaking makes the trees start to wobble like toothpicks. And with a deafening _crack! _the tree in front of me, the one Diana is perched on nearly 30 feet above, disconnects from the trunk and tumbles to the ground.

My vision turns white, and I'm aware of a burning in my throat and a pounding in my legs. I realize that I'm yelling, screaming, racing desperately and trying to save her. I pant and dodge, jumping over trees as the forest falls around me.

"Diana!" I hear. The tree -her tree- has fallen away from me, in the opposite direction we were heading. I have to run farther and parallel away from it because there are several long branches extending that are hard to avoid Still, there are several of them where I'm running and I feel sharp, quick slashes of pain across my shins and knees.

It's the bright, blond hair that I see first. The hair that's tangled with remnants of branches, dirt, ashes from the decimating trees, and blood.

"Diana!" I hear again as I slide onto my knees beside her body. She's conscious, thank the gods, and holding herself by her arms.

"Percy, my leg," she groans, a grimace spreading across her face. I look down and see that her left knee is trapped beneath the trunk of the tree.

"Oh Hades…"

"Okay, listen," she says, leaning forward and gripping a section on either side of her knee. "We're going to lift up...on three." I take a deep breath and grip onto the bark.

"One…two…three," she breathes. Using every bit of strength I can muster, I pull up on the tree and release her leg.

"Ahhh!" she exclaims, right before swinging her left out from underneath it using her hands. I drop the trunk and Diana starts breathing heavily.

"Oh my god, oh my god," she stammers, "Oh my…Percy…it's really...really bad."

She suddenly leans over to the side and begins retching awfully. When she sits back up, she seems dazed and confused, her head swaying back and forth.

"Diana, we have…to get out of here now," I say sternly, gripping her shoulders and looking at her firmly. "You can't walk, can you?"

She swallows and takes a deep breath. "You're hurt too," she chokes. "You can't carry me. I have to try."

I nod and stand up, while slowly, slowly, pulling her up with me. She squeezes her eyes shut and practically hyperventilates from the pain.

I start coughing heavily; the smoke and ash is clogging up my throat. Diana throws her left arm across my shoulders and grips onto me as I hold her by her right hip, with her calf beneath her knee dangling uselessly. Once I pull her up as best as I can, we start quickly walking forward.

It's challenging, and painful, and I begin to feel the cuts on my legs. Diana visibly winces with each step we take, and occasionally emits a groan.

The ash is getting thicker and our vision is becoming more obscure. The coughing increases, turning more into like a smoker's hack while the fumes in the air burn my nostrils.

"Diana," I gag, "the forest,"…cough…"is burning."

We move faster, but it's getting harder to breath. The woods, or what's left of it, seem to go on forever. I feel so useless, like I could just lay down here and never get up again.

...

But, oh, the light. The light resting in the distance. The light marking the end of the falling, burning world.

And, with a final heave, we break through the haze. The woods are thinner here, and there's obviously some kind of line drawn where one of the Gamemakers' terrors end. Diana cries, the sound faint and desperate. I risk a glance down at her: her eyes are closed and she's losing consciousness.

"Stay with me, Diana," I plead. But my throat is so clogged it comes out as: "Skay wkit...(cough)…miee, Dyyy…Dyyana."

And then I see a mountain. A huge, white mountain that I'd never noticed before. It inclines sharply, not gradual, like normal, natural ones. There's a set of humongous granite boulders that form a shelter of sorts. It's dangerous looking, but we have to find a place to stop and we can't anywhere else.

I drag us over to the lean-to and pull her body in after me. The shelter is quite big, a cave really, and larger than I thought, and pretty chilly too.

And that's when I remember the bags, oh Hades, with all of our supplies. The ones Diana was carrying are now either crushed or torn open. But thank Zeus we were smart enough to thoroughly strap them onto our bodies, or else they would've been lost.

I have just enough energy to safely lie Diana down before my stomach turns and I bend over to the side and begin hacking up ash and vomit. It burns up my throat, and it's hard to talk after I'm finished.

"Diana, wake up," I try, pulling her body against the wall. I helplessly look at her, her injuries and her bloody knee. What can I do to make this better?

She stirs and mumbles ambiguously while I tear off a piece of my blanket and dampen it with water. I trickle some into her mouth and use the rag, wiping off the ash and blood from her face. Her eyes flutter open and she groans.

"Oh, my knee hurts so bad," she says, bringing her hand to her forehead and leaning against it.

"I know, I'm getting to that," I promise.

Once I clean off the small cuts and bruises on her head and shoulders, I risk a glance down at her leg.

It's bloody, alright, and looking pretty torn up. I rinse it off and wipe away the grime and dried blood, earning a hiss of pain from Diana.

"Sorry." Once her actual knee is visible, I begin to examine it. Her kneecap looks slightly out of place, so maybe it's broken. The skin is torn up, so I'll have to bandage it, and the whole area is swollen pretty bad.

"Well, I know I'll have to bandage it. Your kneecap looks different…maybe it's…or no-"

"Here," she surprisingly cuts me off, taking her finger and running it along, "See how swollen it's gotten? I also can't put any weight on it, it hurts like nothing I've ever felt before, and it's obviously deformed. So I'm guessing it's patellar dislocation. You know, my kneecap's popped out of place."

"Oh, okay, um…"

"We're going to have to pop it back in," she sighs. She moves away from the wall and lays down almost completely on her back, but keeps herself up by her elbows.

"Okay, grab my leg," she instructs. "Now, pull it firmly, but do it gently. If my kneecap doesn't pop back into place then, you'll just have to push it. Okay?"

I nod blankly and slowly extend her leg towards me by her ankle. Then suddenly, there's a loud _pop!_

"Ooh, ouch!" she yelps, then exhales heavily and lies back down. "Okay, then just wrap it up for now, and I'll try to put a splint on it later." I take some guaze from the kit and begin wrapping it.

After I'm finished and it's clipped, she pulls herself up and leans back against the wall. "What do you think happened?" I ask as we begin settling in for the night.

"You mean when all the trees started falling and burning? I don't know, I've never felt something like that before. But of course, I've never been under the Gamemakers' hands before."

"I think it was just a really intense earthquake."

"A what?" I look up at Diana's quizzical face.

"You know, earthquakes, when the ground shakes 'cause of the tecton…"

She's just staring at me blankly, so I shut my mouth. Then I realize that these people of the future probably don't know about tectonic plates or the inner Earth, or the mantle and crust or anything like that. Stupid, stupid, stupid, Percy.

"I've never heard of those. How do you know about them? There's never been something like that in District 4," she asks, narrowing her eyes.

"Um…my uncle…taught me."

There's suddenly a loud cry from a bird, alerting us and directing our attention outside, and ultimately saving me from having to continue.

"We need to move farther in," she says, "We're too exposed."

We shift everything we've lain out towards the middle of our shelter. It's darker, but at least we're not as easily seen. "I'll go find an animal for us to eat," Diana says, taking her bow and an arrow and hobbling outside.

She comes back with some kind of bird around twenty minutes later, as I'm checking over the remains of our supplies.

"What's left?" she asks, sitting down and taking her knife to the bird.

"Two bottles, one full with water and the other half, food, and the medical kit are okay, since they were with me mostly. Now, what was in your backpack...the blankets are a bit burnt, along with most of the wire, but they'll survive. This plastic is a goner though."

"Too bad."

We both agree that Diana will take the first shift of the night. The anthem plays while the Capitol seal shines above us, quickly followed by the face of the girl from District 3. After the whole procession is over, we go back to the middle of the cave and I crawl underneath my blanket.

"I'll wake you soon."

"See you then."

I close my eyes tiredly and slowly drift off into sleep.

* * *

**AN:** And they survived! Well, of course they did, it wouldn't be much of a story if either one was dead, now would it?

I'll update when I finish the next chapter (okay, what is up with me being so redundant right now?) and knowing me, that probably won't be for more than one, two weeks. See you then.

**Recap**

The tributes who died this chapter are: the girl from District 3. Overall dead tributes are: District 3 Boy and Girl, District 6 Boy and Girl, District 7 Boy, District 8 Girl, District 9 Girl, District 10 Boy and Girl, and District 12 Boy and Girl.

_**IMPORTANT!: **_I'm letting you decide what district should be "Medicine" or medically advanced.

The districts you can vote for are: 5, 7, 8, or 9.

You can vote in a review (anywhere on fanfiction to my story or on my blog), in a PM, e-mail me (), on tumblr, any way you can think of!

Votes that are submitted through reviews can be anonymous, but **ones that are used with an account will count for more!**

I know this doesn't seem like a big decision right now, but trust me, it's going to be a big thing later on!

Go vote now!

...

For the full recap, including alliances and such, visit my blog at http:/mj728fanfiction(dot)blogspot(dot)com.


	10. Chapter 10

My mind is so blown right now. I was really expecting to finish this chapter in more than a week. But after I posted the medicine district results, I sat down and started writing the chapter, and I just finished it. I'm really shocked and happy right now. Well, I hope you enjoy!

* * *

I watch as the sun peacefully comes up and bathes everything in a golden light. The only perk, in my opinion, of having the morning shift is the sunrise. I enjoy seeing the earth begin to move and come to life.

Or, whatever "earth" this was. Knowing Diana would continue sleeping in the dim of the cave, I leave the edge of it where I was resting and walk back to where she's lying.

"Hey, Diana, wake up," I say, shaking her lightly by the shoulder.

"Ugh, morning already?" she mumbles, sitting up and slowly opening her eyes.

"Hello to you too," I say pleasantly, pulling out crackers and dried fruit for our breakfast.

"I don't think we should continue towards the swamp. At least not today," I state as we begin to eat. "We're running low on water, and we'll be in serious trouble if we don't find some more soon."

A soon as I say this, we both subconsciously look over to the two bottles of water that are sitting next to us.

I instantly regret telling her this. What if she betrays me because she wants the water for herself? What if she kills me?

"But, but I'm sure it's okay. We found water so easy on our first day that I'm sure we'll be able to find some more soon," I blabber, hoping to somehow ease the tension or worry she may be feeling.

"Of course. There has to be a lake somewhere here, as a source for all of the other water sources."

Realization slowly dawns on me then.

"No, not a lake," I say excitedly, a dopey grin already on my face. "The swamp. I bet that's where all the water in the arena is coming from. I doubt the Gamemakers would want to put in a big, easy-to-get-at lake here."

"But, why not? They could use that to their advantage. Or, other tributes' advantages, really. The tributes could camp out there and wait for others to come for water, or the Gamemakers could drain every last drop of water from the entire arena so that everyone would have to go to the lake. It's more likely, don't you think?"

"It's likely, of course, but we haven't seen a lake anywhere. We have seen the swamp though, so I think we should go in that direction," I say.

"Percy, we don't even know what direction the swamp is in. And besides, I think it's too dangerous to go there. It's so hidden and "shadowy" that someone could be hiding and just waiting to attack."

"Well, what other idea do you have? Wandering around aimlessly trying to find water?"

"No, but I think anything is better than trying to go to the swamp. And because we have no clue where it is, or the vaguest idea of where we are, then we'd be practically aimlessly wandering anyway! And if we even get to the swamp, it's not like we could drink that water, it's probably far too contaminated. We would have to find a water purifier first."

"Well, what else are we supposed to do? At least we would be near a source of water."

"We could either continue onto the prairie, where there's probably at least one tribute hiding out, or even try to find that pond we found two days ago. Both are far better."

I sigh heavily and start disassembling our camp. Diana had a point; we could get lost trying to find the swamp. But we could also very well get lost and without water trying to find the prairie or the pond. And, the swamp was most likely larger than either, so it'd be much easier to find. But I think I knew deep down that she wasn't going to budge.

I look up at her stern, calculating face. Yep, wasn't going to budge at all.

"Okay, prairie or pond?" I sigh.

She smiles faintly and puts away her blanket. "Prairie. It'll be easier to spot. And thank you, Percy. I'm sorry we had to argue, but this is going to be better."

When everything is away and assembled, we begin on our long trek across the arena. Diana puts a splint on her leg to help her walk better, and she wobbles just a bit behind me, though it was better than yesterday. We have to stop more, also, to allow Diana to rest. I lead the way this time, heading towards what I think is north, though I'm not sure; the sun's not all that natural here.

It's even hotter and smoggier than yesterday, which I thought was impossible. The sweat runs off my back and face easily, and I can tell the heat is taking its toll on my ally. She pulls her hair up and rolls up her jacket sleeves and pant legs up, and though I do the same, it doesn't help much.

"Okay, break, Percy, my leg is killing me," Diana drawls as she plops down against a tree, hours later.

"Whoa, whoa, we have to be careful," I say quickly circling around the tree and trying to look around us.

"I know, but I can't walk any farther to a safe spot. I think my leg's going to pop off by now."

Once I make sure the area is secure, I pull out a water bottle. We each get a small trickle into our mouths, for we can't afford much more than that. At the rate we were moving, we wouldn't reach the prairie in at least a day. Just thinking that made me want to lie down and give up. Diana dabs at her face with a cloth, and I do the same. I think the sweat would begin to run into my eyes if I didn't.

I was beginning to put away the water and Diana was leaning against the tree, eyes closed, when I felt another tremor in the ground. We both stood up at once, fully erect and alert.

"Another…earth quake?"

"Gods, I hope not."

"What do you think it is?" she asks hurriedly.

"I don't know!"

"What the hell do we do?" she shrieks.

Adrenaline rushes through me, as I pull the backpack over me and toss the other to Diana.

"Run."

I don't even know if the trees are falling, but we're getting out of there. I begin sprinting at once, with her following as best as she can beside me.

But due to her knee, her running is impaired, so I latch onto her elbow and pull her along.

As we race through the forest, it looks like the trees are shaking.

"Come on, Diana, the trees are falling!" I scream. I grab the backpack off of her shoulders and sling it over the one I'm wearing, pull her against me, and run even faster.

"Stop, Percy, it's okay!" she shouts.

I must be going crazy, but it sounded like Diana was telling me to stop running.

"What?"

"The trees aren't falling!" She grinds her heels into the floor and effectively stops us.

"What in the world are you doing?" I try pulling her, because no matter what's going on we have to get out of here, but she won't budge. Again.

"I don't know what's going on, but the trees aren't falling. The ground is just shaking," she says, pointing around us.

"Diana, does it matter? We don't need to go through another tragedy!"

She grips onto my arm and quickly walks us out of the path we've been running on. We stand near a towering tree while the tremors seem to be growing.

"What is it?" I ask, begging to start running again.

"We have to get above ground," she replies as she turns to the trunk.

"Diana, no-"

She throws herself onto the nearest branch, flips so she's on the top, and motions for the bags. I oblige and gingerly pull myself up after her. The back and forth motion works: her going up, getting the bags, and then me following. But it's too slow, especially since whatever is happening on the ground, is coming quickly.

"Come on, Percy, come on!" she shrieks. I try to increase our speed as much as I can until we're many feet off the ground.

Diana stops on a branch, gripping her knee, her eyes squeezed shut and rocking slightly.

"We can rest, you have to rest," I tell her breathlessly, "We're high up."

She leans over so she can look at the ground, and shakes her head with a worried look.

"I hope so, because whatever it is that's happening, is coming now."

I know she's right when I can visibly see the ground moving.

"Come on, hold onto the trunk," I say as I reach over and grab onto the tree, just as she does the same.

"Percy!" she screams as her body shakes back and forth.

This was a bad, bad idea. The trees are falling again, our tree is going to fall. We're going to land on the ground and get killed because of my incompetence! There's nothing I can do now, though, we'd only get hurt more by trying to get down.

"Diana! I'm sorry! I didn't-"

My voice is caught in my throat as something running on the ground catches my eye. It quickly zooms out of view, only to be followed by another.

"Did you see that?" Diana shouts, pointing at the ground.

"What are they?" I yell.

I move forward and away from the trunk to get a better look.

"They're animals!"

It's a full-fledged stampede of strange creatures I've never seen before. They have long and slender bodies, with a long stripe of black on their backs. They're like a cross between greyhounds and cheetahs, but their faces are completely different. When I concentrate on one long enough to fully see his face, it makes me jump back from the edge and grip onto the tree.

"Those…those are not animals," I say fearfully.

Diana leans forward too, but quickly comes back once she sees.

"Percy…" she whispers, "I have a feeling we don't want to be seen by those things."

When I look over again, I instantly agree. They have pitch black, intelligent-looking eyes, and pointed noses on a narrow snout. I can see the outline of bones in their head, sitting on a thick neck. When they run, they're mouths are open in a snarl, with razor inches-long teeth showing.

I see trails of blood smeared around their fangs, and can only wonder what their prey is.

"Diana, _don't_ let them hear us," I whisper. The creatures have triangular ears that are pinned back against their heads, giving me a feeling that their hearing is superb.

She nods at me and I can tell she thinks the same thing.

There seems to be hundreds of the animals in the pack, making the stampede last for a little under a minute. It's loud too, the creatures' heavy paws hitting the ground full-force. When the last finally runs past us, I relax against the trunk but continue listening.

"You think they got a tribute?" Diana asks me in a hushed tone.

"There was no cannon," I reply, matching her voice.

"We couldn't hear much when we were running or climbing the tree."

"If they did, hopefully it was a career."

I check to make sure we have everything, including what's in the bags. But I'm lost as what to do next.

I do _not_ want to be caught next to one of those things. I don't feel like ever getting back on the ground after seeing one, and if we did get on the ground, I have a feeling they'd quickly sense us and come back. But we need to walk more, to try and get closer to the prairie. I sigh and sit back down next to Diana.

"What do you think we should do? Those creatures…they're smart animals, and obviously deadly too. But we need to travel…"

Diana shakes her head and rests it in her hands.

"Those things…they look _so_ familiar to me. I just can't place them in my head."

"How could you know them? They look like mutants that the Gamemakers created. Ch-, um, my uncle, told me that the Capitol makes thousands of mutants every year just for The Hunger Games. And those things, they were not natural."

She lifts her head up and looks perplexed.

"I don't know. But they just send me these bad vibes, Percy. I think it's safe to stay here the night. Whatever they are, they're not leaving after one day."

We move up a few more branches, to a more secure and hidden sleeping spot, and settle in. It's sunset by now, so once our blankets are spread out, I "prepare" our dinner. I decide on dried meat, a cracker, and an equal amount of water throughout our "meal".

"It's really bothering me," Diana says exasperatedly, throwing her hands up in the air. "I know I've seen those things before! God, they're just…_there, _in my memory!"

"Whoa, calm down," I say, patting her hand, "You'll remember soon enough. Just don't worry about it."

She shakes her head and crawls onto her blanket. "They're there. I don't know why I can't remember them. Have you ever had that feeling, you know, where you want to remember something, but you _just can't?" _she asks, leaning forward on her knees.

The way she's talking kind of freaks me out; her voice is ghostly, and her eyes are alive and wild looking.

"Like, it's right there, you can see it dancing behind other memories. And you want to reach out to it, because you _know _you know it. But it's impossible, and you don't know why?"

I shake my head silently, like I'm under a trance. She bites her lip, and gives this odd, confident smirk.

"Those things," she says, raising her eyebrows, "I've seen them before. And I just know, deep down, that they're not…they're not what we think they are."

The haunting silence is then pierced by the sound of a cannon.

* * *

Ooh, Di's getting a little spooky, isn't she?

Sorry if it was shorter than normal, but I wanted to leave it at a nice place. What was your position on where to go? What about those weird animals?

What your theory on Di's past with the animals? Strange, huh...

Reviews make the world go 'round!

...

For more info on anything and everything, go to my blog at mj728fanfiction (dot) blogspot (dot) com


	11. Chapter 11

I don't even want to talk about how long it's been. I'm so disappointed in myself for making everyone wait for over 8 months. I would just open up the document and up staring at the ending forever, wondering as to what I would write. So I took a break, and now I'm back and way more inspired. This chapter is a bit shorter than the rest, but better than nothing of course.

So please, enjoy Percy Jackson and the Future Victor, Chapter Eleven.

* * *

_Boom!_

The sudden noise makes me jump and almost fall out of the tree. I'm sure if Annabeth were here she would start cracking up at my skittishness; the thought of her makes me smile before I remember where I am and what just happened. Diana's face jogs my memory.

"Another one dead," she says softly, "what do you think got them?"

"Maybe the dog mutts found another kill for the night."

"Whatever it was, let's hope they were Careers. The less we have to kill, the better."

I wonder if she would feel the same about a tribute from a lesser district. If she only feels like a Career's death is justified because they chose to come here. But she trained all her life for this, she volunteered and made a plan with her district partner to win: isn't she a Career?

Despite knowing that tomorrow will be arduous and wondering what goes on inside Diana's mind to make her resent the Careers, I am unable to fall asleep. Whenever I close my eyes for just a bit, I see images of the muttations in front of me, running in straight lines and pounding the earth with their enormous feet, surrounding me in tantalizing circles, waiting me with salivating mouths to attack.

The longer I wait, the closer the dogs come, snapping at my face with their long, curved fangs, emitting guttural noises from deep within their chests. They dance back and forth teasingly, and though I know that they're going to kill me, I try my best to keep my eyes shut. I figure that if I wait for the end of the nightmares, ones that happen while I'm awake, they will finally end and I'll get some peace.

But the fear becomes too real. How their teeth would feel sinking into the flesh of my arm or calf, or the sting of their elongated claws in my neck, makes my eyes fly open and my white knuckles grip the branch. I breathe heavily for a moment and try to forget it all. Forget all the pain that is somehow present, the frightening flashes of fangs and paws, the growing dread that we will meet up with these animals once again.

Miraculously, I fall asleep, because when I open my eyes next Diana is shaking me awake so that she can sleep. I am covered in a sheen of sweat though, no doubt from the dreams that continued to plague me while I was sleeping.

While I keep watch, the dark, empty space all around me does nothing to help cease my fears. Boredom causes me to imagine any sort of animal jumping from the gloom…rabid dogs, ginormous crocodiles, beaked birds that belong in horror movies. Diana's shift doesn't come soon enough.

Thankfully, I feel better in the morning. Beams of sunlight filter between the leaves of our tree and clearly illuminate all that I can see. I watch a jade-colored beetle climb lazily along the far-reaching twigs of the branch near me as Diana rolls up her blanket and puts the food away. I've already packed up everything that could be done so, wanting as much as a distraction as possible during the last hours of the night.

I think of home as well. Camp Half-Blood, my real home. The smell of the strawberry fields wafting through my cabin on hot afternoons. The weight of Riptide in my hand as I practice, muscles tight, adrenaline pumping through my veins, sweat gathering on my forehead. Walking throughout the forest, the warm scent of pine trees surrounding me, a soft breeze grazing my cheek…

…

We decide to continue trying to find the prairie. Our water amount is getting lower and lower, but I pray to Poseidon that we find some more soon. We don't have to worry about food though, as I realize the woods we're traveling through are full of rabbits and birds. Diana shoots down an animal that looks like a goose early on, and we sit down and start eating the whole thing. I haven't realized how little we've been consuming until I find myself scarfing down the meat as quickly as possible.

"Slow down, Percy, I can shoot another, you know," Diana jokes.

"Sorry," I say, wiping my mouth, "I'm just so hungry after having a cracker and water for breakfast."

"We won't have to do that anymore if we keep finding more animals."

I'm just about to respond when there's suddenly a quick snapping of branches to my right. Diana flies up and pulls an arrow and I remove my sword quicker than I can think. She aims towards the trees and I cover her from behind immediately, not even pausing.

Killer's instinct, I guess.

"Show yourself!" Diana yells, "We know you're there!"

There's more snapping of branches, and then a small hand slowly appears from behind the tree. An arm and then a body follow, until a small frame with pale skin and short, dark hair stands before us.

Cora.

"P-please…" she stammers, "p-please don't h-hurt me."

Diana rests her bow and holds up her free hand. "We won't, Cora. We won't hurt you."

"I j-just saw you guys a-and…I wanted to be…a-allies."

Diana and I exchange a look.

"I'm fast!" she interjects, "And I can dodge knives and spears…the C-careers have all of that but I can get around it. And I know about, about berries a-and nuts and how to get food…I heard you saying you don't have a lot to eat…and I have a knife! I have a knife that I-I know how to use, and-"

"That's fine, Cora. Let us talk about it," Diana says.

We turn away so that she can't see what we're saying, but we can still keep an eye on her, though I doubt she would come after us, and if she tried to run I don't think either of us could chase her down and kill her. But it feels safer watching her.

"What do you think we should do?" my ally asks in a hushed tone.

"She seems like a good ally. I think we should take her on. She may know where some water is."

"How would we get rid of her though? You know, when it narrows down…"

"I guess we just cross that bridge when we get there," I reply.

Diana cocks her head to one side. "Cross a bridge…what, what do you mean?"

I realize that maybe some sayings from my time wouldn't exist here. I guess after natural disasters, mass annihilation, civil wars, and a harsh, dictating government tear apart the continent for hundreds of years…people don't speak the same way anymore.

"Um, I mean, we'll take care of that when it happens," I say.

"Okay…you know you're really weird Percy, right?" she smirks.

"You have no idea," I respond.

We turn back to Cora, who's practically trembling from waiting all this time. She swallows uneasily and scans our faces.

"Okay, we'll be allies with you Cora," Diana tells her.

The answer clearly eases her worries. She practically deflates as she leans against a tree and the color comes back to her cheeks.

"Thank you. You guys are just so smart and…I figured with the three of us, we would be able to take down the rest of the Careers."

"What do you mean, the _rest_ of the Careers?" Diana asks suddenly.

"Well, um, you guys seem like Careers. You're from District 4, and you volunteered," our new ally replies nervously, once again uneasy.

"We're _not_ Careers. We're not like them," Diana says firmly.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't-"

"Oh, Diana's just overreacting. We do seem like Careers, anyway," I wave it away, hoping we can get this over with and finish eating the goose. "Come on, let's sit down and finish off this bird."

I give most of the rest of the goose to Cora. You can tell she's only been eating little, and just nuts and berries at that. Diana jokes that she's messier while eating than I am.

"What? We're hungry," I tell her.

She rolls her eyes. "I've been feeding you just well."

"And I thank you for that. But poor Cora's been living off of plants this whole time."

"It's called the _Hunger Games_ for a reason."

"Ah. But not if you have food available everywhere," I say, waving a drumstick at her. Cora begins giggling and Diana smiles at me. For a moment, things are okay.

I forget where I am. I forget what I'm really doing here. I forget about my mission and what I'll have to do. I forget that if I do it correctly, Cora will die soon. I forget all the worries and pain and sadness that come with these horrible games, the cruelty and tyranny that cause them.

I forget that when I leave, things will be the same, and I try to forget how I cannot change them.

What I focus on is this moment, a time of happiness and peace where we can laugh with each other and not worry about the untimely deaths of everyone left in this arena.

Just as I'm about to offer another piece of goose to Cora, we hear the first shout from the pack of Careers, signaling that they have found us.

* * *

Oh you hate me, don't you? Don't worry, the next chapter will be soon enough, if I can focus enough and I receive lots of love from all my dedicated readers, right?

Anyway, thank you for still sticking with this story and reading till the end. I'm very sorry for not updating in forever, but I think I'm back on track now :)

...

For more information on my stories, including update information, visit my fanfiction blog at .com


	12. Chapter 12

**AN: **I can't believe it's already half-way through October. My homecoming is in less than a week away and Halloween is coming soon (I still don't know what I'm going as, or if I even going) Anyway, on with the chapter :)

* * *

"Run!"

Cora draws her knife and dashes off into the trees behind us, as quick as lightning. Diana and I look at each other, wondering between us what we will do. We know each other's strengths and weaknesses, what we'd be best at and where'd the Careers would triumph.

With a nod, Diana draws an arrow, I release my sword. She scrambles up the tree directly behind me like a squirrel and I brace myself as the District 1 boy, Dace, comes barreling towards me and the District 2 girl follows behind. Dace has a sword in his hand, but I can tell it isn't fit for him; it hangs in his hand somewhat awkwardly. The girl, though, she has a long, golden spear held along her left arm and vicious smirk on her face. She has choppy, brown hair and piggy eyes, with a vicious glint in them. She has striking characteristics to Clarisse, and for this I immediately nickname her the same. And the District 1 girl, Mave or something, runs behind them. Her shoulder is bandaged heavily but is soaked with blood. The spear from the bloodbath must have done some serious damage.

Everything seems to happen in slow motion as Dace approaches me. Just as he pulls his sword back and lunges for me, "Clarisse" angles her body away from us and begins to throw her spear at Diana. Dace comes down at me, sword aimed straight for my heart. I pray Diana can take out Clarisse by herself, because I'm going to be preoccupied.

He thrusts his weapon out as I dodge the blow and roll away from him. Springing to my feet, I make a slice at his chest but he blocks it. In the corner of my eye, I see Clarisse pull another spear out as she moves out of the way of a zinging arrow.

_Boom!_

A cold hand of fear closes around my throat. I can't breathe. I can't think. I only make another slice at my opponent and pray, pray, pray that it's not Diana. But then I see another arrow fly towards Clarisse and I know she's safe.

Dace parries at my face, almost slicing my ear off, but I move my head before he can and he ends up slicing the top of my shoulder. I quickly take his moment of pride to hit him with the butt of my sword, dazing him, and slice his right knee. He screams and stumbles around, probably not accustomed to being maimed so easily. In a new rage, he heaves his body at me, sword pointed straight for the middle of my chest. Since he's leaving the rest of his body unguarded, I lean down and away from him and plunge my sword right underneath his ribcage.

He lets out a bloodcurdling scream, immediately jumping away from me and holding his side. I know he wasn't expecting this; I didn't let my full demigod powers show in training or my private session.

Clarisse snaps her head over to look at us, eyes widening when she sees Dace is hurt. Something wild registers in her eyes: a fear, a rage, an animalistic instinct to kill.

I stumble backwards out of surprise, dumbfounded, but Diana takes the moment to shoot an arrow right at her. Caught up in Dace's injury, Clarisse sees it at the last second and only has a moment to get away. But she's too late, and the arrow grazes her thigh.

The look in both of their eyes speaks of fear and retreat. They wildly run back up the hill, as quickly as they came. I drop my sword out of relief and sink to my knees, half surprised/half expecting that they would run so easily.

It is then I finally notice the dead body on the ground, twisted unnaturally in a way that tells you she was running when she was killed, and fell to the ground in a helpless heap. The body of Mave, an arrow stuck in her neck, her once shiny hair matted with dirt, her once beautiful body injured and bloody, her once pretty face lying in the ground.

I slowly walk over to her, as if in a trance, staring at her helpless body the whole time. I kneel down next to her side and gently turn her over onto her back, pull out the arrow embedded in her, and brush the dirt off her face.

"Percy…" Diana says softly.

I just shake my head and stare down at her. Why did she come here? Why her, just a young girl? Why would she choose this? Better yet, why would people choose for this to even happen? I wonder briefly if she was forced to train by her parents. Or maybe she felt she had to because she was from District 1.

I know that Diana had to kill her. Mave would have tried to do us off later on anyway. But I can't help feeling guilty for our actions. Her violent death, lying here already cold as ice and still as a stone, only reminds me of all the kids who died while protecting Mount Olympus months ago.

I stand up, still looking down at Mave's face. It's then I realize that I didn't even really know her name. It could've been Mave or Mauve or Maple or Jennifer and I wouldn't have a clue. For some reason, this fact hurts me the most.

I take a deep breath and tuck my sword back in its sheath. "Let's go. We need to find Cora."

Diana stands still and doesn't say anything for a while, just stares at me with a sad smile on her face. "You're right, we should go. She ran through here," she says, leading the way through the trees.

I don't look back at Mave as I walk away, not even when I hear the whirr of the hovercraft taking her away.

…

I'm still reeling from the vicious battle when we find Cora. The images replay over and over in my head; cutting Dace, stabbing him briefly in the side, watching Diana shoot at Clarisse…saying goodbye to Mave. My mind still hasn't fully processed the whole event though.

Cora is perched up in a tree, like a little animal, waiting for us. When we spot each other, she jumps down quickly and runs towards us. "Oh, thank goodness you're okay! I was so worried, I didn't know what would happen, I shouldn't have left you, you guys are hurt and you could've used my help, or-"

"No, Cora, we told you to run. We're really not that bad off," Diana says with a grunt as she sits down on a fallen tree. "The climbing really tore out my knee though."

"And your arm," Cora replies, picking up Diana's elbow.

"One of Ainsley's spears grazed me. I'll be fine."

Ainsley. The District 2 girl. Cora gently wraps the cut on Diana's arm in gauze and then turns to me. "And you?" she asks. "You couldn't have escaped Dace without getting banged up. I mean, I don't mean to be rude, but I'm surprised you survived."

I don't say anything, just show her the cut on my shoulder and she mends it.

"That's something I don't understand, Percy," Diana remarks after scooting herself into the crook of a tree. She rolls a ball of gauze around in her palms and keeps her eyes on me in a cool, curious gaze.

"The Careers are so well-trained. They've been working their whole lives for this, since they were infants. Granted, we've done some preparation ourselves, but not like them. How did we defeat them so…"

She rolls the gauze around one last time and pops it into the medical kit in front of her.

"…easily?"

I meet her cool stare. Should I tell her everything now? Let her know who her mother really is, why she had to leave her family, why we're so much stronger and skilled than everyone else? She keeps her eyes trained on me, waiting for an answer. But I can't tell her now, not if front of Cora or so blatantly in front of the cameras. I have to find a time when we're alone, as hidden as possible from the people of Panem, where we can be quiet enough that they can't hear us. Until then, I have to keep lying to Diana.

"What can I say?" I look down at my backpack and rifle through it for a distraction. "Maybe they were unprepared today. Perhaps they thought we'd be an easy target. And there were only two of them we were really fighting."

"I don't know, it's too weird," she replies. I simply shrug and try to think of something to change the subject.

"How do you know how to mend wounds so well, Cora?" I ask, examining the bandages she put on my shoulder. They're bound tightly enough and clipped in a complicated way that'd be a pain to try to undo, from what I can see.

"District 5's industry is medicine. Every kid learns simple first aid in school, whether they become a researcher or a factory worker."

"Then I think you'll come quite in handy as these games progress," I say. Cora smiles shyly, and it's then I realize this is the first time I haven't been thinking of our battle or Mave's death.

I realize I'm just going to have to learn how to cope with the imminent deaths of these teenagers, many of which will be because of me. It's what must be done in order for Diana to live, and for me to return home.

I only hope that it can be finished with as soon as possible.

* * *

**AN:** Short, I know, but that's the only way I seem to be able to get these out in a reasonable manner. Tell me what you're going as for Halloween, I'd love to know!

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For more information on my stories, visit my fanfiction blog at www,mj728fanfiction,blogspot,com


	13. Chapter 13

**AN: **this chapter is dedicated to **HawkeyeLover**- I was most certainly thinking of thinking of the children when I wrote it in a hurry :)

* * *

The crisp smell of frying meat wafts towards me in my sleep and invades my brain, entering my semi-conscious state dreams. My mind easily conjures up images of long, white-clothed tables with silver cooking grills and trays holding breakfast ham, sausage, cheesy eggs, silver dollar pancakes topped one upon one another like leaning towers. Sweet scents of carmel-colored syrups, tart strawberry jam, a plum jelly with bits of berry seeds. Lightly browned scones that twist up like a soft-serve ice cream cone. And there, thick slices of french toast, smelling heavenly of egg and raspberry and honey marmalade. If only I was at camp right now, I'd be delighting in a feast made for gods- literally. Another wave of greasy, frying meat hits me, and my ears catch the sounds of _crackles_ and _pops_.

My eyes spring open and I almost tumble out of the tree when I sit up eagerly.

"Bacon?"

Diana and Cora sit on the leave-scattered ground below me around a small crackling fire. They laugh at me heartily and it delights me to see their smiles. Cora gingerly holds up a plump, ash brown bird that looks as though it's just been killed.

"Not quite bacon. Diana shot them down this morning. Its companion is cooking now," Cora says, lying the creature down for Diana to prepare. It looks like it could be a pheasant, or maybe a quail; birds were never my expertise. The second one is wrapped in dark green leaves and tucked away among the coals of the fire. I happily climb down from the tree and join them, for the first time actually looking forward to eating breakfast.

After Diana passes me a cracker, I secretly throw it into the fire, the most I should spare, and thank Hestia for the hearth and food.

Once it's cooked to perfection, I take a humongous bite of the bird, which Cora tells me is a dove. I make another silent prayer, this time to Aphrodite, and throw in a piece. Mouth half full, grease and hot juices running down my face, I tell Diana happily, "This is delicious."

"Don't tell me, tell her," she says, nudging towards Cora. The little girl meekly looks up at me and blushes a color as deep as a ruby-red grapefruit when I give her my praise.

"I just used the spices I could find around here; there's a patch of rosemary over there, and almost a forest of cloves just in that direction, if you know where to look," she says, taking the herbs and applying them to the other bird.

"How do you know where to look?" I inquire.

"Back in my home, my siblings and I went out every morning at dawn to collect ingredients for my mother and our sector. Everyone there is instructed on spices and herbs and plants from the day we're old enough to read and write. It's the basis for all medicine," she says, wrapping the second batch of leave bundles and burying them in the belly of the fire.

I take another mouthful of a juicy and spice-filled drumstick. "Well, thank the gods. I don't think I can take another day of the meager, bland food we've had to eat so far."

"It's called The _Hunger_ Games for a reason," Diana says, rolling her eyes and taking a long sip of her canteen.

"Well then I guess you could call them the _Hunger_ Districts," Cora states bluntly.

Everything goes silent. Cora's sudden statement is uncharacteristic of her. For some reason, I'm aware that the cameras panned away from us and are concentrating on someone else.

"Well, I'm right, aren't I? Not so much in District 4, maybe." Cora drops her voice to almost a whisper and leans in closer to us. "But the rest of us, the outlying districts? Did you know that we're starving? That there's disease? Poverty? Outright persecution, all spreading throughout neighborhoods, practically rich and poor alike like a wildfire? That we're cowering in fear of torture and death if there's one little inkling of opposition?"

Diana and I exchange an almost queasy look. "What do you mean?" I ask tentatively.

"We're the lowest of the low. My baby sister, she died only a week old. My mother never even got to see her face. She herself was so sick after giving birth that she couldn't even open up her eyes. The only reason she barely survived was because my entire family gave up all of our food to her to keep her alive.

"That was during a horrible famine. We were down to eating…things you couldn't even imagine to survive on when the food trucks finally came in from the Capitol. Even then, it was oil, wheat and grain to make our own bread, some chicken at best. Because of those months, my mother still has a horrible cough, and is so weak she can't be out of bed more than a few hours at a time. My two youngest brothers are sickly thin, and won't grow to be more than hardly half the size of other boys their age. And my great aunt, she gets sick almost once a month- well, everyone in 5 gets a fever or the spots often."

"But you're the medicine district. Don't you have enough medicine for your people?" Diana asks incredulously.

"No, of course not. Everything we manufacture, we ship. Every bit of information we research, goes to the Capitol. That's where they do the real development. If we try to smuggle anything from the factory, medicine, supplies, _information_, we'll be beaten or shot, depending on the severity. And any medicine we need is far too expensive. And believe it or not, it's like that in all the other districts as well, despite what the _Capitol_ tells us." She spits the word out disgustedly, as if it left an acrid taste in her mouth.

"I've heard rumours like that, from my father. I mean, the outer lying areas of District 4, the slums, are as poor as it gets for us. But my…I mean, I've heard things like that about the poorer districts…" Diana mumbles.

"Really?" I feign surprise. I know all about what Cora is saying, and more. Chiron laid out the history of Panem for me at camp, from after the Dark Days ended and the Capitol won the bloody civil war. The citizens were promised a fair, free, and all-giving government and country. I doubt anyone believed that would happen, especially after the Games were put in place and the districts fell into heaps of depression and poverty with no aid from their "shining Capitol" to rebuild themselves. And any thought of a peaceful, equal companionship shattered when District 13 was blown to pieces. The districts quickly learned that the Capitol was selling them propaganda, and realized that they meant nothing to them.

"I-I hadn't heard that," I say more quietly now, suddenly worried that the officials in the very place we're shaming are now watching us carefully, waiting.

"It's true what I say. Everything the Capitol says is a lie. And soon, these facts, they'll just be a common occurrence. Everyone will know about it, and no one will care. Who would care? The rich of Districts 1 and 2? The airheads and the cruel ones of the Capitol? They're not our friends. They're not here to help us."

"We shouldn't be talking like this, Cora," Diana warns, looking around nervously. "The war ended 15 years ago, we don't need the Capitol pushing us further into oppression."

Cora scoffs. "You guys, 1, 2, and 4, you actually matter to the Capitol. You're rich. You'd think they'd care about 5; we keep them healthy, don't we? But no. Our children die before they see their first spring. Our old and sick that can't work are gunned down since they don't bring in enough money, by the _government's_ standards. Our young are plucked from their mothers' arms and thrown in an arena to die like dogs."

"Cora, _stop_."

"What can they do to me, huh? Block my face from the people of Panem? Send another pack of mutts my way? Make my death as violent and entertaining as possible?"

"Kill your family," I say solemnly, thinking of the names of victors I studied and memorized: Quilton, Abernathy, Janise, Mason.

Cora laughs sadly and stares at the fire, the last of its embers dying like a shooting star, reflecting in her eyes. "My father already passed away years ago. My brothers and sisters are worked to the bone. My mother may have even died hopelessly after I left, out of grief. I don't know how the rest of them will manage once I go, too. Maybe the Capitol _will_ take them." Her voice catches on her last few words as the coals dim and she takes the baked leaves from the pit, her fingers coming out blackened with soot.

"But I'll never see them again. I know that. I said my goodbyes."

Diana and I say nothing. We know that Cora's chances of winning are slim. And if it's up to me, they're zero.

After what seems like an eternity goes by, she sniffles and offers the food to us. "Does...would anyone...like this?" she says, seemingly more to herself than us. Diana wordlessly takes the leaves from her fingers and places them gingerly into her pack, but continues to hold on to Cora's hand.

"We'll just put it away, for later," she whispers softly, tears glinting in her eyes like the sun shining on water. Diana suddenly pulls her close to her and embraces the little brown-eyed, bob-haired girl, and they stay like that for a while, just holding each other. I think I even see Diana whisper something softly into her ear.

I'm not sure if something like this has ever happened in the arena, an alliance trespassing even friendship and turning into such compassion. She rocks her softly, and rests her hand in her hair, and occasionally runs her fingers over it.

Cora's death is imminent.

Diana's survival is vital.

Cora must die and Diana must live. The raw facts are what must happen for the benefit of Cora's people. For them to receive the peace they're without. For them to not live in poverty and oppression. For them to finally live in happiness, and freedom.

I tell myself this over and over and Cora turns her face away from Diana's shoulder and looks at me sadly, with large eyes that strangely reflect something that sadly reminds me of Annabeth.

* * *

Oh the sad sadness of children dying. I think I wrote this chapter so spitefully because I was in a very rebellious mood this week.

I've just posted a new Glee AU story titled _The Theatre Merveilleux_. I'd appreciate it so, so much if you'd go check it out and tell me what you thought :)

19 DAYS TILL CHRISTMAS PEOPLE! I'd love if you'd review telling me what you thought of the chapter, and if you do celebrate any holiday, tell me what you're doing/where you're going. I'd love to hear! :)

...

For more information on my stories, including info on updates and character inspirations, visit my fanfiction blog at mj728 dot blogspot dot com :) thank you!


	14. Chapter 14

"Parrot fish."

"Shark."

"You have to be more specific than that."

"_Bull_ shark."

"Moray eel."

"Anemone." I catch the grin that briefly crosses Diana's face. I grin right back.

"Manta ray."

"A _what_?"

"A manta ray. Like a huge stingray. What, never heard of it before?"

"Not fair, you uncle taught you that. We barely studied stingrays, and that was 4th year."

"If you can't come up with anything, then I guess you lose."

To pass the time while walking, Diana suggested playing a game in which we name various sea creatures to prove who knows more. The loser is whoever gets stuck and can't think of one.

"Tuna," she grumbles.

"Angler fish."

"A _what_?"

"You guys." Cora stops and looks up to the trees. "Maybe we should stop talking."

"Did you hear something?" I ask, anxiety already creeping up in my stomach.

"No, not really- I don't know." She has an eerie, faraway look in her eyes. "I just get this feeling."

"Is it the ground shaking? Do you hear someone coming?" She could be more sensitive to sounds, I think, because of having to listen for the bell that signals the end of work each day.

"It could be tributes coming, or maybe…never mind. Just a bad premonition. Let's just keep walking, be on the lookout."

But the anxious look is still on her face.

…

We walk uneventfully for the next hour. At every rustle or sound among the bushes, Diana aims her arrow, I wield my sword _Roufichtra_, or whirlpool as I've named it, and Cora draws her dagger.

But every time, it ends up being a squirrel scuttling in the bushes or a bird flying away.

"Maybe you're just feeling nervous. A bit jumpy," I tell Cora.

"I don't know. I get bad feelings like this often at home. Days when I know someone is late coming home. When the guards come around and check to make sure everyone is at their house by lights out and someone's missing. When you can't fall asleep because of the sounds of the beatings. Bad feelings, like-"

_BAM!_

Suddenly I'm pushed off my feet by an immense blast, spiraling backwards, flipping upside down over and over. I'm flying, I realize, and there's a tickling sensation running up and down my back.

_Thump_

Off in the distance, I see stars circling around each other, like constellations in the night sky. And hot, white dots dancing back and forth enchantingly. I reach my hand out, laughing, wanting to join them.

A cold, black darkness sprouts in the back of my head, spreads to engulf my brain, and rocks the rest of my body to a dark sleep.

* * *

gasp! What has happened?! Will Percy survive?! Is he already dead?! Why was the chapter so short?! Why are cliffhangers so evil?!

...

For more info on my fanfiction, please visit my fanficition blog at .com. Thank you!


	15. Chapter 15

**AN: **Honestly, I must have the time to write the story, because I do have Ch. 16 typed up, it's just I don't have the time to transition and edit it all. But at least the cliffhanger is being dragged out more ;)

* * *

I twirl the shining bronze sword around and around in my hands. The sunlight glints off the metal and gem alike. But on probably my 100th round of twirling, my index finger slips and the sword drops onto the grass with a heavy _thud._

My heart sinks further into my stomach.

And suddenly, I have a frivolous urge to kick it, stomp on it, drive it further into the dirt. I almost come close too, the toe of my shoe just inches from the hilt, when I realize what I'm doing and sink to my knees.

I find myself leaning against the stump of the tree I was just sitting on, again, and my withered face automatically goes to the palms of my hands as if they were magnetically attracted to each other.

How many times have I sat like this, tired-eyed, hopeless, desperate? I feel as though I'm a candle slowly melting through my fingers into a pathetic puddle of wax on the ground.

I open my eyes, and see the sword lying there between my fingers.

Tentatively, I reach a hand out and place it around the gold studded hilt and admire the impressive weapon as if it were actually _him_: the sparkling Celestial Bronze, glossy leather grip I had polished over and over each day he was gone, gleaming double-edged blade, sharper than it had ever been.

It had been weeks since he left. No word from his quest at all. I hated myself for being so caught up in him, but no matter how hard I tried to push down the mopey feelings, I couldn't help it.

One could only be so strong for the person they loved.

"Hey! What are you still doing sitting here?" I solemnly pick up the sword and weakly get to my feet. "I never thought you were the type to mourn over a _boy_."

I respond by punching Grover in the arm and saying, "I'm not mourning."

"Yeah, yeah, Annabeth. But you _are_ moping-"

"I am _not moping over Percy_. And to prove it to you, I'll beat you so hard in sword-fighting you'll be sore for a week."

"You're on."

I tuck Riptide into the belt of my jeans, just as I tuck Percy into the back of my mind. Grover and I race down the hill to arena, the each of us trying to trip each other on the way down.

* * *

A little catch-up on Annabeth as I slowly drag out the cliffhanger in Percy's world :) Don't worry, this is the only chapter in Annabeth's POV. I personally hate it when authors switch back and forth.

...

For more information on my stories, pretty please visit my blog at mj728fanfiction dot blogspot dot C O M. Thanks!


	16. Chapter 16

**AN: **I love all my readers so much and especially those who reviewed. They were so lovely to read and made me want to update immediately.

* * *

Chapter 16

_A flash of frantic hands over my face. _

_Another hot burst of white; my face showered in warmth._

_A thin, needle-like sensation in my arms. _

_Lungs, weak and rubbery, deflating like pool toys losing air. _

_Pressure underneath my legs, shoulder blades, my back. _

_Everything goes dark._

_ I'm lying on the beach at camp. The Sun is setting, but the sand is still warm. I can hear the nymphs distantly singing under watery depths. _

_ The Sun on the horizon becomes brighter. A hot, red glow slowly emanates from its center, spreading farther outward, increasing in intensity. It becomes so bright I must shield my eyes, but the spectacle is so beautiful I can't look away. There's a horribly painful sensation on my face and palms, but I stand it so I can stay watching. There are golden and black figures dancing feverishly in the middle, like the flames of a blazing fire. The beach begins to shake, but I don't care. The Sun's flames float across the waves and reach me, licking at my feet and arms. I lay down fully on the boiling sand, letting the flames engulf me entirely. _

…

I wake up gasping for air and shaking frantically, covered in sweat. My vision goes blurry milliseconds after opening my eyes- I can barely make out a wavering light above me before they fall closed again.

* * *

**AN: **You hate me, don't you? Anyway, I considered combining this chapter of ~Percy's~ POV with another character's but I decided to shorten it and post it right away. Thank you for reading :)

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For more info on my stories, please visit my fanfiction blog at mj728fanfiction dot blogspot dot com.


	17. Chapter 17

**AU: **These reviews are the absolute most wonderful thing ever. Even if you say that these past chapters suck, I love reading them.

And to answer the question of "Shouldn't Riptide go back to Percy's pocket?" No. Riptide only returns to Percy's pocket if it is somehow lost. Percy left the sword at camp because A) it's ineffective against humans and B) you can't very well sneak a pen into the Hunger Games. Or, if that's not good enough, enough divine power can subdue the charm and cause Riptide to not return. We can pretend that Chiron or Poseidon or whomever made a little spell to keep the sword at camp, okay?

And now with that out of the way, on with the story...

* * *

"Percy….Percy…please…"

I touch his shoulder, his face, his arms and chest and legs and hands, try to find some form of life.

"Please, Percy…wake up…"

No response.

Maybe he'll never wake.

I had considered leaving him earlier, but I know in my heart I couldn't do it. I may have just met him a few weeks ago, but he's become my friend. I would always be worrying about what happened to him if I abandoned him here.

I can only imagine what my father would be telling me now, if he was still speaking to me, of course: "Man up, Diana. He's no longer valuable to you. It's the _Hunger Games_, for crying out loud. You'll have to kill him sooner or later."

I shake away these thoughts. It's not good to think about the inevitable, no matter how imminent. When we finally have to part ways, it's going to be dignified. How dishonorable would I be if I left him and Cora to die.

"No water," my known ally announces as she comes into the clearing, holding our empty canteens. Ever since Percy fell unconscious, we oddly and very aggravatingly had been unable to find any water. Cora and I frequently went out ranging while the other stayed with him and our supplies, but we hadn't come across a single pond, stream, or inkling of it. "Any response from him?" she asks, sitting down next to me.

"None, other than looking like he's in agony. Huh, did you hear me?" I shout. I stand up and begin yelling at the sky angrily."Agony! Sheer agony!"

"What are you _doing_?" Cora yanks me by my arm back down and fretfully looks around us. "Do you want someone to hear us?"

"I'm _trying_ to get the attention of our damn mentors, Kent and Marie," I huff.

It had been four days since the explosion. The memories of the suffering I felt when the green and red fire engulfed me are so horrendous that when I try to recall them, they only come back in brief, painful flashes. I blocked nearly everything about that moment and the following days. I lightly touch my right cheek and eye, my ear, the right side of my head where not a single strand of hair remained, the raw flesh of my hands. Either Percy and I had no sponsors, or our lovely mentors were sadists.

"Try not to touch it," Cora says, taking my hand away from my head. I sadly look at her, all of 10 years and already her life so shortened: her left arm dangling limply from her shoulder, dark dried blood on her ear, and a long pink burn slowly snaking up her scrawny, pale thigh.

My prevailing theory of the missing parachutes being due to our evil mentors who enjoy watching us suffer was because of Cora's medicine. Mere hours after we had managed to recover, District 5's sole victor and her mentor, Ida, winner of the 10th Hunger Games, sent a jar filled with a clear salve for our wounds. It was a simple concoction that everyone in our district had in their homes, used to treat a wide range of things like jellyfish stings and sunrashes. But it made all the difference in the world when put on our burns: it felt as though the fire and chemicals were being pulled straight from my skin, relieving the torturous pain. After treating Cora, Percy, and myself more than two times each, the jar was nearly empty, and Percy was still a vegetable.

I rest my chin onto my palm before remembering it's still tender. I stare at Percy, whom was closest to the trigger point of the gamemaker's bomb, the first in our line, and yet still managed to receive the least of the damages. He was in a coma, of course, from flying into the air and hitting the forest floor hard, but had only a few scratches and burns on his face. My grandmother would say he had a "guardian angel" watching over him, but I wasn't so sure: I never believed in spirits watching over us with all the unfortunate events of my life. And seeing Percy as comatose as he is, feeling the hope draining more out of me every day watching him and waiting, I would think he did have someone guarding him if he ever woke up at this point.

* * *

**AU: **Dun dun dun...Is Percy truly doomed? Does he have a guardian angel? And what's up with Diana's past, huh? And hey, at least we're back in the arena. Thank you so much for reading darlings, I appreciate you so, so much :)

...

For more information on my stories, like updates and inspirations, pretty please visit my blog at mj728fanfiction dot blogspot dot com. Thank you!


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